Blog

Aug 12 12:07 pm

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island unveiled today its new hybrid-elec­tric fer­ry, the Har­bor Charg­er, the first of its kind in New York State and a wel­come addi­tion to the Trust’s exist­ing fer­ry fleet. The arrival of the new boat coin­cides with the 20-year anniver­sary of Gov­er­nors Island open­ing to the pub­lic, as well as major recent progress in its devel­op­ment as a lead­ing des­ti­na­tion for cli­mate research and edu­ca­tion — mark­ing a sig­nif­i­cant mile­stone in its transformation. 

The Har­bor Charg­er was named fol­low­ing a city­wide nam­ing com­pe­ti­tion that drew more than 800 sub­mis­sions from nau­ticalophiles across the five bor­oughs. The win­ning name was sub­mit­ted by David Kurnov of Brook­lyn. The $33 mil­lion craft is the first hybrid-elec­tric pub­lic fer­ry in New York State, mark­ing a his­toric moment for Gov­er­nors Island and sus­tain­able mar­itime trans­porta­tion in New York State. The Har­bor Charg­er has the abil­i­ty to trav­el at speeds up to 66 per­cent faster than cur­rent fer­ries, paving the way for pas­sen­gers to reach Gov­er­nors Island even quick­er than before. 

“Twen­ty years ago, Gov­er­nors Island opened to the pub­lic for the first time, cre­at­ing a green, clean, sus­tain­able space for New York­ers to enjoy. Today, we are dou­bling down on that lega­cy with the launch of this first-of-its-kind elec­tric fer­ry,” said New York City May­or Eric Adams. ​“From the hik­ers who will vis­it the Island’s trails to the sci­en­tists who will work at its world-class Cli­mate Exchange, the Har­bor Charg­er will car­ry New York­ers and vis­i­tors alike into the future and deliv­er a safer, health­i­er city for all. Con­grat­u­la­tions to the Trust and the crew on this maid­en voyage!”

“With the Har­bor Charg­er, we are not just launch­ing a new fer­ry — we are chart­ing a course toward a clean­er, more sus­tain­able future for New York City,” said Deputy May­or for Hous­ing, Work­force and Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment Adol­fo Car­rión. ​“Thanks to the City’s cap­i­tal invest­ment, this state-of-the-art ves­sel will cut hun­dreds of tons of emis­sions each year while bring­ing vis­i­tors to Gov­er­nors Island faster and more effi­cient­ly than ever. It is a mile­stone in our mar­itime his­to­ry and a major step toward build­ing more sus­tain­able and inno­v­a­tive waterways.”

“The Har­bor Charg­er join­ing our fleet of pas­sen­ger fer­ries is a momen­tous day for the Trust and for the thou­sands of vis­i­tors who enjoy what Gov­er­nors Island has to offer every sin­gle day,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“We are excit­ed to pro­vide a clean­er, green­er mode of trans­porta­tion to the Island for the near­ly one mil­lion indi­vid­u­als that trav­el here each year. The Har­bor Charg­er will car­ry pas­sen­gers smooth­ly across the har­bor, wel­com­ing repeat vis­i­tors and first timers from around the world.” 

“The hybrid-elec­tric Har­bor Charg­er is a mod­el for clean­er and green­er trans­porta­tion in New York City and across the coun­try,” said Ali­cia Glen, Chair of the Board of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“The Har­bor Charg­er will serve Gov­er­nors Island’s vis­i­tors and grow­ing com­mu­ni­ty of mis­sion-dri­ven ten­ants and part­ners for decades to come, all while reduc­ing emis­sions in the har­bor. I am proud to have been part the Trust’s efforts in deliv­er­ing trans­for­ma­tive invest­ments like the Har­bor Charg­er in order to real­ize Gov­er­nors Island’s full potential.”

“Gov­er­nors Island’s new hybrid-elec­tric fer­ry is exact­ly the type of game-chang­ing trans­porta­tion we need to con­tin­ue dri­ving down emis­sions in New York.” said Gov­er­nor Kathy Hochul. ​“I encour­age New York­ers and vis­i­tors alike to take advan­tage of this clean­er, green­er option to explore our beloved Gov­er­nors Island.”

“Invest­ing in our pub­lic trans­porta­tion infra­struc­ture is crit­i­cal to boost­ing our econ­o­my and expand­ing New York­ers’ access to research and edu­ca­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties,” said U.S. Sen­a­tor Kirsten Gilli­brand. ​“I was proud to help secure a $7.5 mil­lion grant through the Fed­er­al Tran­sit Admin­is­tra­tion to sup­port shore­side rapid charg­ing infra­struc­ture for the Har­bor Charg­er, and I remain com­mit­ted to fight­ing for more fed­er­al resources to improve the effi­cien­cy and sus­tain­abil­i­ty of New York City’s ferries.”

“All hands on deck, the Har­bor Charg­er is final­ly here!” said U.S. Sen­ate Major­i­ty Leader Charles Schumer. ​“When I helped write and pass the Bipar­ti­san Infra­struc­ture Law and the Infla­tion Reduc­tion Act, this sort of new, clean-ener­gy trans­porta­tion was exact­ly what I had in mind. That’s why I was so proud to deliv­er $7.5 mil­lion to help fund elec­tric charg­ing infra­struc­ture that will sup­port the Har­bor Charg­er as it fer­ries count­less New York­ers and tourists to and from Gov­er­nors Island, one of the crown jew­els of New York’s pub­lic park space. Not only is the Har­bor Charg­er faster and clean­er than the dirty diesel fer­ry it’s replac­ing, it will also help advance the mis­sion of the Gov­er­nors Island Cli­mate Exchange, an unprece­dent­ed invest­ment in a job-cre­at­ing, clean­er-ener­gy future for New York City. Anchors aweigh!” 

“The Har­bor Charg­er is more than just a fer­ry. It’s a mod­el for sus­tain­able infra­struc­ture that con­nects our com­mu­ni­ties while cut­ting car­bon emis­sions and cre­at­ing 21^st-cen­tu­ry jobs,” Con­gress­man Dan Gold­man. ​“Gov­er­nors Island is lead­ing the way toward a green­er, more resilient future for New York City, and I’m proud to have helped secure $7.5 mil­lion in fed­er­al fund­ing for the project. I com­mend the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island for their bold vision, and I look for­ward to see­ing this remark­able ves­sel serve New York­ers for gen­er­a­tions to come.” 

“Gov­er­nors Island is tru­ly one of our city’s hid­den gems, and it has hard to believe that this is the 20^th sea­son that it will be open to the pub­lic,” said U.S. Rep. Jer­ry Nadler. ​“I am hon­ored that I worked on reac­quiring the island from the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment, and that New York­ers today have this won­der­ful park in the cen­ter of the har­bor to play, explore and relax in. It is tru­ly an incred­i­ble one-of-a-kind New York attraction.”

“20 years ago, Gov­er­nors Island opened to the pub­lic, and now it’s mak­ing his­to­ry again by intro­duc­ing the state’s first hybrid-elec­tric fer­ry. As Gov­er­nors Island attracts increas­ing­ly more vis­i­tors, their jour­neys will be faster and green­er thanks to the Har­bor Charg­er,” said Man­hat­tan Bor­ough Pres­i­dent Mark Levine. ​“The Har­bor Charg­er is the most recent exam­ple of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island’s long­stand­ing and extra­or­di­nary lead­er­ship in cli­mate innovation.

“I am excit­ed to cel­e­brate the Har­bor Charg­er as the newest addi­tion to the Gov­er­nors Island fer­ry fleet. As we look for inno­v­a­tive ways to revi­tal­ize the invalu­able resource that is New York City’s har­bor, this ves­sel rep­re­sents our shared goals of sus­tain­able design and acces­si­bil­i­ty of our water­ways,” said Coun­cil Mem­ber Christo­pher Marte. ​“This is an excit­ing step for Gov­er­nors Island and our City, and just anoth­er way to invest in and pre­serve Gov­er­nors Island as a unique pub­lic green space for future generations.”

“As we con­tin­ue to reimag­ine Gov­er­nors Island as a place for learn­ing, com­mu­ni­ty, and cli­mate action, access becomes more impor­tant than ever. The Har­bor Charg­er deliv­ers on that need with tech­nol­o­gy that not only improves the jour­ney, but also reflects our shared respon­si­bil­i­ty to reduce emis­sions and build a more sus­tain­able city,” said Assem­bly­man Charles D. Fall 

“Gov­er­nors Island con­tin­ues to lead the charge toward a more sus­tain­able future, and now that includes how New York­ers get there. The Har­bor Charg­er not only speeds peo­ple to the Island faster, but also reduces emis­sions and offers a qui­eter, clean­er ride with this next-gen­er­a­tion sus­tain­able fer­ry design. said Thank you to the Trust for chart­ing a course toward more sus­tain­able tran­sit on the City’s water­ways and for enhanc­ing access to one of our most cher­ished pub­lic spaces,” said Tam­my Meltzer, Man­hat­tan Com­mu­ni­ty Board 1 Chair

“Con­rad Ship­yard is deeply hon­ored to have part­nered with the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island to build and deliv­er the Har­bor Charg­er to the peo­ple of New York City. This fer­ry is a vital link con­nect­ing New York­ers to one of their most trea­sured pub­lic spaces. At Con­rad Ship­yard, we under­stand the respon­si­bil­i­ty that comes with build­ing infra­struc­ture that serves the pub­lic, and we approached this project with the same com­mit­ment to safe­ty, qual­i­ty, and integri­ty that has defined our com­pa­ny for decades. Work­ing with the Trust has been excep­tion­al. Their vision for reli­able, safe trans­porta­tion to Gov­er­nors Island aligns per­fect­ly with our val­ues of deliv­er­ing ves­sels that oper­a­tors can depend on day after day, sea­son after sea­son. We’re proud to sup­port New York City’s mar­itime infra­struc­ture and look for­ward to see­ing the Har­bor Charg­er serve the com­mu­ni­ty for many years to come,” said John­ny Con­rad, Exec­u­tive Chair­man of Con­rad Shipyard.

“We are proud to con­tin­ue our sup­port of The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island in their pur­suit of clean­er marine trans­porta­tion in New York Har­bor. EBDG’s team of marine engi­neers and design­ers pro­vid­ed con­tract design and then act­ed as own­er’s rep­re­sen­ta­tive through­out con­struc­tion of the new hybrid-elec­tric fer­ry, the Har­bor Charg­er. This ves­sel is a tes­ta­ment to the pow­er of col­lab­o­ra­tion — between the Trust, Con­rad Ship­yard, Siemens Ener­gy and a ded­i­cat­ed group of indus­try part­ners. Togeth­er, we’ve helped bring a sus­tain­able and beau­ti­ful­ly designed fer­ry to life,” said David Turn­er, Project Man­ag­er, Elliott Bay Design Group.

“Equipped with our hybrid propul­sion sys­tem, bat­tery stor­age and real-time con­trol plat­form, this ves­sel will be reli­able, high­ly effi­cient and pro­duce sig­nif­i­cant­ly few­er emis­sions. And we have laid the foun­da­tion for ful­ly elec­tric oper­a­tion in the future. The com­bi­na­tion of these inno­va­tions will make for a clean­er, smoother ride and, hope­ful­ly, a won­der­ful vis­it to Gov­er­nors Island,” said Rich Voor­berg, Pres­i­dent of Siemens Ener­gy for North America.

“The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island’s new hybrid-elec­tric fer­ry is a per­fect exam­ple of the real-world impact of uni­ver­si­ty research and devel­op­ment. This achieve­ment fur­ther demon­strates how New York City is a crit­i­cal hub of sus­tain­able, effi­cient and cost-effec­tive tech­nol­o­gy.” said Andrea Gold­smith, Pres­i­dent of Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty. ​“This clean trans­porta­tion solu­tion rep­re­sents the type of inno­v­a­tive think­ing and pio­neer­ing that Stony Brook’s stu­dents, fac­ul­ty, researchers and indus­try part­ners bring to The Exchange – where aca­d­e­m­ic excel­lence meets urgent cli­mate chal­lenges. The unveil­ing of the Har­bor Charg­er is the lat­est Gov­er­nors Island mile­stone paving the way to advance cli­mate action and pos­i­tive change that will impact com­mu­ni­ties across New York and beyond.”

“The Har­bor Charg­er hybrid-elec­tric fer­ry exem­pli­fies the low-car­bon solu­tions we’re eager to show­case when The Exchange opens its doors,” said Stephen Ham­mer, CEO of The New York Cli­mate Exchange. ​“The con­tin­ued invest­ment in sus­tain­able infra­struc­ture on and around Gov­er­nors Island sig­nals shared com­mit­ment to mak­ing this his­toric loca­tion a cat­a­lyst for cli­mate inno­va­tion – where vis­i­tors will expe­ri­ence cut­ting-edge solu­tions and engage with world-class research and edu­ca­tion programming.”

“Home to The New York Cli­mate Exchange, Gov­er­nors Island is already shap­ing into a hub for world-class cli­mate inno­va­tion, and reduc­ing emis­sions with a new hybrid-elec­tric fer­ry will sig­nif­i­cant­ly advance the Island’s sus­tain­abil­i­ty work,” said New York City Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion (NYCEDC) Pres­i­dent & CEO Andrew Kim­ball. ​“NYCEDC knows that New York­ers love their fer­ries, and the unveil­ing of the Har­bor Charg­er marks a mon­u­men­tal mile­stone in cre­at­ing a clean­er, more sus­tain­able har­bor for future gen­er­a­tions to come.”

“The Har­bor Charg­er is proof that New York can lead the way in build­ing a clean­er, health­i­er future while keep­ing our city mov­ing. As the first hybrid-elec­tric pub­lic fer­ry in the state, it’s not just a mile­stone for Gov­er­nors Island — it’s a mod­el for how we can cut emis­sions, improve air qual­i­ty, and advance cli­mate inno­va­tion right here in our own har­bor. NYL­CV applauds the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island for show­ing what’s pos­si­ble when we invest in sus­tain­able trans­porta­tion that ben­e­fits both peo­ple and our clean ener­gy future,” said Julie Tighe, Pres­i­dent of the New York League of Con­ser­va­tion Voters. 

“Since the found­ing of the Gov­er­nors Island Alliance in 1995, RPA has sup­port­ed the rede­vel­op­ment of the island from an old mil­i­tary out­post to one of the pre­mière recre­ation­al and event spaces in New York City,” said Tom Wright, Pres­i­dent and CEO of Region­al Plan Asso­ci­a­tion (RPA). ​“Today, we cel­e­brate the launch of the Har­bor Charg­er, New York State’s first hybrid-elec­tric pub­lic fer­ry. This new addi­tion to the fer­ry fleet coin­cides with the Island’s 20^th year open to the pub­lic, as well as major recent progress in its devel­op­ment as a lead­ing cen­ter for advanc­ing cli­mate research, edu­ca­tion, and inno­va­tion. Today marks anoth­er mile­stone in the island’s con­tin­ued trans­for­ma­tion as a vital resource and ameni­ty for all res­i­dents of the tri-state region.”

The Har­bor Charg­er trav­eled up the East­ern Seaboard from Louisiana, where it was built at the Con­rad Ship­yard in Mor­gan City over the course of two weeks this spring. The fer­ry has a capac­i­ty of up to 1,200 pas­sen­gers and 30 vehi­cles for Island deliv­er­ies and ser­vices and boasts an increased cruis­ing speed of 10 – 12 knots. It will replace the diesel-pow­ered Lt. Samuel S. Coursen — the Trust’s cur­rent vehi­cle and pas­sen­ger fer­ry that was com­mis­sioned by the U.S. Army in 1956 and has been in con­tin­u­ous use ever since. Lat­er this year, the Lt. Samuel S. Coursen will retire from service. 

The Har­bor Charg­er is equipped with Siemens Energy’s BlueDrive Eco diesel-elec­tric propul­sion sys­tem, their Blue­Vault advanced bat­tery-based solu­tion, and Eco­MAIN — a tech­nol­o­gy plat­form that enables the oper­a­tor to con­stant­ly mon­i­tor this state-of-the-art equip­ment. The hybrid propul­sion sys­tem reduces air pol­lu­tion by allow­ing the boat’s sys­tems to tog­gle between three modes: zero-emis­sions, bat­tery-only pow­er, and bat­tery assist­ed hybrid with diesel back­up. The bat­tery-assist­ed hybrid mode will reduce car­bon diox­ide emis­sions by near­ly 600 tons annu­al­ly, allow­ing the Trust to make ground­break­ing progress on its net-zero emis­sions goals. 

Once shore­side charg­ing facil­i­ties are installed, which are cur­rent­ly in the design phase, the ves­sel will reduce emis­sions by an addi­tion­al 800 tons annu­al­ly. Thanks to sup­port from Sen­a­tor Schumer, Sen­a­tor Gilli­brand, and Con­gress­man Gold­man, the Trust secured $7.5 mil­lion in fed­er­al infra­struc­ture fund­ing from the US Fed­er­al Tran­sit Admin­is­tra­tion to sup­port the shore­side rapid charg­ing infra­struc­ture, enabling the Har­bor Charg­er to reach ful­ly elec­tric oper­a­tions once installed. The rapid charg­ing infra­struc­ture is cur­rent­ly in design.

The Har­bor Charg­er was designed by Elliot Bay Design Group (EBDG) and required more than 465 tons of steel, rough­ly equiv­a­lent to 11 sub­way cars, to con­struct. The vessel’s enhanced maneu­ver­ing capa­bil­i­ties uti­lize Schot­tel azimuthing thrusters fea­tur­ing 360-degree steer­ing. The boat also fea­tures mod­ern ameni­ties, a low­er-lev­el ADA-acces­si­ble lounge, and restrooms on each lev­el. This is the sec­ond fer­ry boat EBDG has designed for the Trust — the pas­sen­ger-only GOV­ER­NORS 1, built by Blount Boats, went into ser­vice in 2019. 

Over the past two decades, the Island has grown tremen­dous­ly as a glob­al resource for cli­mate inno­va­tion, offer­ing wide­spread oppor­tu­ni­ties for research and pilot­ing; pub­lic art­works engag­ing with cli­mate issues; and a grow­ing com­mu­ni­ty of edu­ca­tion­al, non­prof­it, and com­mer­cial ten­ants focused on cli­mate — includ­ing Bil­lion Oys­ter Project, the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School, Wind Sup­port NYC, and the soon-to-open But­ter­milk Labs, among oth­ers. In April 2023, The New York Cli­mate Exchange was select­ed as the anchor research and edu­ca­tion­al insti­tu­tion to cre­ate an inno­va­tion dis­trict on Gov­er­nors Island to accel­er­ate equi­table cli­mate solu­tions for cities. The Exchange, led by Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty and a con­sor­tium of part­ners, is devel­op­ing a 400,ooo SF cam­pus on the Island focused on advanc­ing cli­mate solu­tions and prepar­ing New York­ers for green jobs. Con­struc­tion is expect­ed to begin in 2026. 

Jul 25 1:43 pm

Post by Amy Wang, Com­mu­ni­ca­tion & Pub­lic Affairs Intern at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. 

From my van­tage point, high up on Dis­cov­ery Hill, the cab­in appears seclud­ed and pri­vate, its eggshell tip just peek­ing through the canopy of trees. The climb itself felt like a small rev­e­la­tion — tall grass­es brush­ing against my legs, the path open­ing wider as the sky stretched above. The tem­per­a­ture shift­ed as I reached the top — hot and burn­ing, the kind of sun that press­es down, dry and constant.

But I think to myself, no wor­ries. A rest stop—a cab­in.

When I arrived, I looked around the shed, inspect­ing it for an entry but found none. I knocked, but there was no echo from the inside. It becomes clear, to my dis­ap­point­ment, that the cab­in only appears like a sanc­tu­ary, but it isn’t a real home. Where there should be hol­low space to house some­one, there is sol­id fill instead, and where­as the win­dows should offer a glimpse in, they pro­trude out instead. The house is invert­ed, inside out. 

Nat­u­ral­ly, I turn my atten­tion back to the out­side with­out any option to go in. Into the daz­zling har­bor, the con­spic­u­ous har­bor of the Stat­ue of Lib­er­ty, the vast­ness of the city sky­line from the high­est peak of the Island, I real­ize that I didn’t lose any­thing but gained much. Turned out, per­haps loss and abun­dance were two sides of the same coin, and my reflec­tion dis­placed my orig­i­nal dis­ap­point­ment. Under­neath the back­drop of the steel and glass, I also real­ize that the city is nev­er so far away, escape is nev­er tru­ly real, but that is actu­al­ly okay. The promise of retreat con­jured up by my own expec­ta­tions final­ly breaks free and with that, apart. The cab­in grad­u­al­ly feels more and more out of place now – uncanny. 

Uncan­ny is exact­ly what artist Rachel Whiteread intend­ed when she cre­at­ed the instal­la­tion. By plac­ing this pic­turesque con­cept on top of a hill, over­look­ing the har­bor, but then deny­ing entry into the house, she invites – or more forces– view­ers to look out­wards as a means of look­ing inwards at their own con­tra­dic­tions. She invites deep­er intro­spec­tion into the sub­tle, uncon­scious needs inhab­it­ing our own neg­a­tive spaces. What I dis­cov­ered on my trek was not what I orig­i­nal­ly expect­ed, but arguably even more mean­ing­ful; I was look­ing for space, but end­ed up find­ing per­spec­tive instead. 

Walk­ing down again, I sud­den­ly remem­ber a fact that I heard in my ear­li­er days on the Island: That the Island has lay­ers of nat­ur­al and arti­fi­cial, just like the cab­in, a seem­ing­ly nat­ur­al con­cept, amidst so much fruit shrubs and monarch but­ter­flies end­ed up being a man­made enti­ty, built unnat­u­ral­ly. Turns out, the land of the Island is part­ly made from the debris of the 4, 5, 6 sub­way lines and it was from this urban wreck­age to green space, I had longed for a moment of ​“escape.”

But I have tran­scend­ed beyond this bound­ary: Gov­er­nors Island puts the human in nature and more than being just nat­ur­al or arti­fi­cial, it is art. The art in artifi­cial is shaped, curat­ed, inten­tion­al, and gen­uine. But most of all, it is welcoming. 

My friends are at the bot­tom of the hill wait­ing for me. Well, how was it? They asked, but I replied, I didn’t find it. It would’ve been sweet, but…

What I found was not an escape, but a return; not soli­tude, but pres­ence; not a place to hide, but a rea­son to come back down the hill— to you, to this, and to the art of being a part of some­thing, and not apart from it. 

Cab­in is pre­sent­ed by Gov­er­nors Island Arts, and is locat­ed on Dis­cov­ery Hill. Click here to view all Gov­er­nors Island Arts pub­lic artworks. 

Gov­er­nors Island Arts presents its pro­gram with sup­port from Bloomberg Phil­an­thropies, Cha­ri­na Endow­ment Fund, Star­dust Fund, Sur­go Foun­da­tion US, Don­ald A. Pels Char­i­ta­ble Trust, the New York State Coun­cil on the Arts (NYSCA) with the sup­port of the Office of the Gov­er­nor and the New York State Leg­is­la­ture, Car­rie Den­ning Jack­son and Dan Jack­son, the Rip­ple Foun­da­tion, the Howard Gilman Foun­da­tion, the Jerome L. Greene Foun­da­tion, and the Cowles Char­i­ta­ble Trust. 

Jun 26 2:47 pm

Post by Amy Wang, Com­mu­ni­ca­tion & Pub­lic Affairs Intern at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. 

If you vis­it Ham­mock Grove this sum­mer on Gov­er­nors Island, you might stum­ble upon a flock of sheep munch­ing away on weeds and shrubs. The icon­ic crew — Evening, Chad, Phillip Aries, Bowie, and Jupiter — first arrived in 2021, board­ing the fer­ry with sheep insur­ance and a big appetite. But 2025 will be their fifth and final sum­mer on the Island.

Loy­al Gov­er­nors Island fol­low­ers have been heart­bro­ken over the news. ​“The shear audac­i­ty!” ​“How could we fire them?” But the truth is: the sheep have done their job too well, and they’re near­ing the end of their intern­ship — or internsheep, if you will.

The sheep hail from Friends of Tivoli Lake Pre­serve and Farm in Albany and were brought in to tar­get inva­sive plants like phrag­mites, bindweed, and mug­wort — aggres­sive species that com­pete with native plants for space, nutri­ents, and mois­ture. By repeat­ed­ly graz­ing areas con­tain­ing these plants, the sheep weak­en the inva­sives’ rhi­zome sys­tems and pre­vent the seeds from spreading.

But sheep aren’t the only ani­mals that parks and open space can enlist for hor­ti­cul­tur­al help. Goats were briefly con­sid­ered for the job, but sheep ulti­mate­ly won out due to their more refined culi­nary palate. While goats will eat vir­tu­al­ly any plant life they can get their hooves on — native or not — sheep pre­fer soft inva­sives like mug­wort and phrag­mites. Besides, the sheep seem to take their role seri­ous­ly: Baaad mug­wort. Baaad bindweed. Baaad phrag­mite. Chomp. All gone. 

Each sheep has their own sto­ry — and per­son­al­i­ty. Evening is the con­fi­dent leader of the group, with her son Chad at her side. Bowie and Jupiter are fra­ter­nal twins: Bowie is lit­er­al­ly the ​“black sheep” of the flock, while Jupiter is known for her lov­able ditzi­ness. And they always look out for one anoth­er. Just recent­ly, when Bowie slight­ly injured his hoof, the oth­er four stood by pro­tec­tive­ly, gaz­ing at him with qui­et con­cern, as the vet­eri­nar­i­an checked up on him. 

The sheep have also grown close to the hor­ti­cul­ture team, espe­cial­ly the gar­den­er Melis­sa Per­rin, their human best friend and de fac­to shep­herd. Per­rin knows each sheep by their dis­tinct facial mark­ings and tail lengths, and she’s learned exact­ly what they want after a long day’s work: ​“An arm­ful of hay for all five of them,” she laughs — plus a treat of molasses-cov­ered pellets.

As Gov­er­nors Island cel­e­brates its 20^th year open to the pub­lic, the sheep are also cel­e­brat­ing their own mile­stone: grad­u­a­tion. They’ve become beloved ambas­sadors of the Island’s inno­v­a­tive eco­log­i­cal hor­ti­cul­ture prac­tices. In just five sum­mers, they’ve earned a loy­al fan base — and even have their own merch! Stop by the Wel­come Cen­ter at Sois­sons Land­ing Fri­day to Sun­day to pick up your very own sheep plushie.

The shear love for the flock is clear. Vis­i­tors ask about their future: ​“Where will they be going???” ​“Will they be retir­ing to a sanc­tu­ary after this?” ​“They deserve to live peace­ful­ly” they say. After their fifth and like­ly final sea­son, the sheep will return home to the Friends of Tivoli Lake Pre­serve and Farm in Albany, where they’ll con­tin­ue to live out their lives in peace, munch­ing away on upstate inva­sive species. 

Hap­py grad­u­a­tion to the sheep of Gov­er­nors Island! Your baaaril­liant lega­cy lives on in every cleared path, thriv­ing tree, and grate­ful visitor.

Jun 23 2:54 pm

Guest post by Pao Delos Reyes, Grad­u­ate Intern, Cli­mate Pro­grams at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. All pho­tos by Sean Jamar.

On Thurs­day, June 12, 2025, the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island held the sec­ond annu­al Cli­mate Solu­tions Show­case, a spe­cial pre­view day of the new cohort of com­pa­nies pilot­ing impact­ful cli­mate solu­tions on Gov­er­nors Island this sum­mer as part of the Trust’s Cli­mate Pilot­ing Pro­gram. With the goal of accel­er­ating urban cli­mate solu­tions, the Cli­mate Pilot­ing Pro­gram sup­ports the research, devel­op­ment, and demon­stra­tion of equi­table cli­mate solu­tions that can be scaled and applied globally.

“In this piv­otal moment for our city and our world, we need ambi­tious solu­tions,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“Gov­er­nors Island sits at the heart of New York Har­bor and is home to a thriv­ing ecosys­tem of inno­va­tors who are lead­ing the charge toward a green­er future on every aspect of our built envi­ron­ment — from build­ings and ener­gy to mobil­i­ty, logis­tics, waste man­age­ment, water sys­tems, urban agri­cul­ture, and adap­tive infra­struc­ture. We are proud to sup­port these com­pa­nies and encour­age vis­i­tors and all New York­ers to vis­it them on the Island this summer.” 

Cir­cu­lar Econ­o­my Pitch Hour

The show­case start­ed with a Cir­cu­lar Econ­o­my Pitch Hour mod­er­at­ed by Alex Brady, Chief Real Estate Offi­cer at the Trust, where nine com­pa­nies pre­sent­ed their solu­tions fol­lowed by live feed­back from a pan­el of experts. These experts includ­ed Cas­sia Attard, Ven­tures Ana­lyst at Closed Loop Part­ners, Eric Davis, Sec­tion Man­ag­er, Research & Devel­op­ment at Con Edi­son, Ker­ry Con­sta­bile, Direc­tor, Decar­boniza­tion Strat­e­gy at Ama­zon, and Shaina Horowitz, Direc­tor of Pro­gram Inno­va­tion and Accel­er­a­tion at the New York Cli­mate Exchange.

Car­bon­CLAIR start­ed off the pitch­es high­light­ing their portable air fil­tra­tion sys­tem that cap­tures both par­tic­u­late mat­ter (PM2.5) and car­bon emis­sions using renew­able ener­gy sources. The com­pa­ny is ded­i­cat­ed to improv­ing urban air qual­i­ty by cap­tur­ing pol­lu­tants and CO2 in out­door envi­ron­ments, while pro­duc­ing a byprod­uct with com­mon indus­tri­al appli­ca­tions. On Gov­er­nors Island, Car­bon­CLAIR will be pilot­ing their off-grid device at a con­struc­tion site. 

“The Cli­mate Solu­tions Show­case was a great moment for Car­bon­CLAIR to share our vision and con­nect with lead­ers who are equal­ly pas­sion­ate about clean con­struc­tion and cli­mate inno­va­tion,” remarked Co-founder Fares Al-Lahabi. ​“Hear­ing from the pan­el and audi­ence gave us valu­able per­spec­tive on how our tech­nol­o­gy fits into broad­er cli­mate adap­ta­tion strate­gies, and it opened up con­ver­sa­tions we’re excit­ed to keep build­ing on.”

Mira Intel show­cased their infra­struc­ture resilience solu­tion. ​“Pre­sent­ing at the event was a mile­stone for Mira Intel,” beamed Co-founder and CEO Danielle Nichol­son. ​“The show­case was our first oppor­tu­ni­ty to pub­licly show what we have been work­ing on qui­et­ly for the past year. Gov­er­nors Island was the per­fect location.”

With drone-based struc­tur­al assess­ments and pro­pri­etary analy­sis soft­ware, Mira Intel can pro­vide ear­ly dam­age detec­tion and increased asset lifes­pan, redefin­ing the way we mon­i­tor and main­tain crit­i­cal infra­struc­ture. ​“Insights from guests com­ing from regions out­side of the North­east rein­forced our con­fi­dence that our plat­form can be trans­for­ma­tive in a diverse range of regions, each with unique infra­struc­ture vul­ner­a­bil­i­ties and needs,” Nichol­son added.

Up next was Birdsview, a Nor­we­­gian-based com­pa­ny pilot­ing their ground-pen­e­­trat­ing radar (GPR) struc­tur­al assess­ment tech­nol­o­gy. A rapid and user-friend­ly con­crete inspec­tion tech­nol­o­gy, Birdsview’s solu­tion pro­vides pre­cise and action­able rein­force­ment insights to reduce costs and short­en project time­lines. Co-founder and CEO Olav Sko­gen shared that the com­pa­ny was born out of the urgent need to pre­serve, adapt, and opti­mize the aging built envi­ron­ment. With their pilot on Gov­er­nors Island, the com­pa­ny is look­ing for­ward to scal­ing beyond Scandinavia.

“The event was a great oppor­tu­ni­ty to con­nect with the oth­er star­tups and meet pas­sion­ate peo­ple who share a com­mit­ment for this work, affirmed Sko­gen. ​“Learn­ing more about the dif­fer­ent star­tups, the chal­lenges and oppor­tu­ni­ties ahead of us was inspiring.”

Fourth to pitch was CO Adap­tive, a design-build firm based in the Brook­lyn Navy Yard that spe­cial­izes in high per­for­mance retro­fits of exist­ing build­ings. With a focus on mate­r­i­al repair and cir­cu­lar­i­ty that is root­ed in reduc­ing embod­ied car­bon, CO Adap­tive is devel­op­ing Dis­as­sem­ble, a pre­fab­ri­cat­ed mod­u­lar wall sys­tem made from sal­vaged wood that can be used to retro­fit spaces to pas­sive house stan­dards more quick­ly, eco­nom­i­cal­ly, and sus­tain­ably. Their pilot on Gov­er­nors Island rep­re­sents their first off­site tem­po­rary instal­la­tion in New York, which will help them work towards their goal to com­mis­sion their first per­ma­nent instal­la­tion in a pas­sive house retrofit. 

“We were hon­ored to be includ­ed in this group of cli­mate inno­va­tion lead­ers, and we left the event inspired by the impor­tant work hap­pen­ing all around our city and beyond,” remarked Andrew Brown, Archi­tec­ture Direc­tor. ​“The atten­dees rep­re­sent­ed a cross sec­tion of the many busi­ness­es, agen­cies, orga­ni­za­tions and indi­vid­u­als who are com­mit­ted to address­ing cli­mate change today. The dis­cus­sions with pan­elists and peers helped our team bet­ter define our tar­get mar­ket, artic­u­late our scal­ing strate­gies, and gauge mar­ket inter­est. We are grate­ful to The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island for bring­ing this com­mu­ni­ty together.”

Cast Car­bon fol­lowed CO Adap­tive. Inte­grat­ed with region­al farm and forestry residues, Cast Car­bon is a biochar-enriched, archi­tec­tur­al wall tile that is not only nature-pos­i­tive and com­postable, but also beau­ti­ful. The prod­uct was devel­oped by Phy­to­stone, a woman-owned stu­dio that pro­duces advanced nat­ur­al build­ing materials. 

Co-founder Emi­ly Majew­s­ki intro­duced the com­pa­ny and its vision to regen­er­ate nature, improve soils, and beau­ti­fy the lives of occu­pants, and with Cast Car­bon, they aim to help reduce the effect of ren­o­vat­ing build­ing inte­ri­ors. These ren­o­va­tions hap­pen twen­ty to forty times over the lifes­pan of a build­ing, caus­ing 350% more car­bon emis­sions than that of the building’s exte­ri­or, and adding more waste to our landfills.

“It was great to meet a real cross sec­tion of NYC stake­hold­ers from financ­ing inno­va­tion to pol­i­cy and ear­ly customers…all in the same place!” Majew­s­ki said about the show­case. ​“See­ing such a com­pre­hen­sive array of solu­tions from inte­ri­ors to the water­front to data col­lec­tion behind nat­ur­al cap­i­tal and infra­struc­ture health real­ly shows that it’s going to take a vil­lage for the inno­va­tion ecosys­tem to impact this great city, and we loved see­ing that in action.”

Sixth in the pitch line up was Cir­cu­lar Econ­o­my Man­u­fac­tur­ing, pre­sent­ed by direc­tor and co-founder Bar­ent Roth. Aim­ing to tran­si­tion cities and res­i­dents from a lin­ear econ­o­my to a cir­cu­lar one, Cir­cu­lar Econ­o­my Man­u­fac­tur­ing uses scal­able, portable, solar-pow­ered micro­fac­to­ries to trans­form sin­gle-use plas­tic into durable well-designed products.

With their Micro­Fac­to­ry on Gov­er­nors Island, the com­pa­ny uses plas­tic waste from New York City, solar pow­er, and local labor to man­u­fac­ture prod­ucts for the Island and beyond, fur­ther reduc­ing emis­sions and waste by dis­trib­ut­ing these prod­ucts local­ly. At the show­case, Roth pre­sent­ed life-size pro­to­types of the Cir­cu­lar Chair, which will be pilot­ed on Gov­er­nors Island lat­er this year. The chair has two dif­fer­ent seat­ing heights or can be used as a table when flipped on its side. 

Next in the line­up was Plan­taer. Pre­sent­ed by Founder & CEO Manuel Ben­itez Ruiz, Plan­taer has cre­at­ed a build­ing mate­ri­al that sup­ports veg­e­ta­tive growth and is devel­op­ing non­struc­tur­al prod­ucts, includ­ing pavers, tiles, pan­els, and coat­ings, that can be used for com­mer­cial and res­i­den­tial roofs, build­ing facades, and infra­struc­ture. This bio­com­pat­i­ble mate­r­i­al not only low­ers embod­ied car­bon and increas­es dura­bil­i­ty, but also improves ener­gy effi­cien­cy, air qual­i­ty, heat mit­i­ga­tion, and stormwa­ter management.

Eighth to pitch was Arbon, a Direct Air Cap­ture (DAC) com­pa­ny that will pilot their humid­i­ty-swing tech­nol­o­gy on the Island. Pre­sent­ed by Annie Lee, Direc­tor of Busi­ness Devel­op­ment, Arbon uses an ener­­gy-effi­­cient, durable, and afford­able device that cap­tures and stores CO₂ from ambi­ent air, dras­ti­cal­ly low­er­ing the costs and car­bon foot­print. With cap­ture sources rang­ing from ambi­ent air to mines, pow­er plants, and oil refiner­ies, Lee shared that ear­ly tests of their tech­nol­o­gy show promis­ing results. At scale, their device is pro­ject­ed to reach car­bon cap­ture price points as low as $100 per ton CO2 from ambi­ent air and $35 per ton CO2 from a pow­er plant, all while hav­ing four to six times less ener­gy usage com­pared to sim­i­lar technologies. 

“The show­case event for Arbon marked the first step to real-world deploy­ment,” expressed Lee. ​“We’re excit­ed about our upcom­ing year-long pilot on Gov­er­nors Island, which will pro­vide cru­cial per­for­mance data and demon­strate our work­ing sys­tem to investors and the pub­lic. Hear­ing from last year’s suc­cess­ful pilots was par­tic­u­lar­ly inspir­ing and gave us con­fi­dence in the poten­tial of this opportunity.”

The final com­pa­ny to pitch was Rego, which has devel­oped an AI-pow­ered zero waste data plat­form for sus­tain­abil­i­ty teams. Pitched by co-founder and CEO Josh Mas­tro­mat­to, Rego aims to help com­pa­nies reduce waste, cut costs, and exceed their sus­tain­abil­i­ty goals. Their plat­form, designed to inte­grate with exist­ing work­flows, offers real-time waste audits and loca­tion-spe­cif­ic insights using only cell phone images. 

“The event was a great oppor­tu­ni­ty to show­case to the pub­lic how the Gov­er­nors Island pilot can help advance and de-risk new com­pa­nies and tech­nolo­gies, such as Rego,” Mas­tro­mat­to com­ment­ed. ​“This means that Rego can more con­fi­dent­ly approach new oppor­tu­ni­ties with oth­er cities, munic­i­pal­i­ties, and enter­prise orga­ni­za­tions. The insights from the pan­el, audi­ence, and guests were incred­i­ble. They all want to sup­port our mis­sion to make zero waste afford­able and acces­si­ble for any city, any­where in the world.”

Pan­el Dis­cus­sion: Water­fronts of the Future

The sec­ond pan­el fea­tured com­pa­nies and non­prof­its that have pilot­ed water­front solu­tions on the East Riv­er from Gov­er­nors Island to the South Bronx, in New­town Creek, and in oth­er loca­tions. Mod­er­at­ed by Lau­ren Wang, Direc­tor of Cli­mate Pro­grams at the Trust, the pan­el includ­ed Bri­an Wil­son, CEO at Duro UAS, Lau­ren Kesner O’Brien, Pol­i­cy and Part­ner­ships Man­ag­er at Empire Clean Cities, Shan­jana Mah­mud, Co-Founder of Sea­weed City, and Greg Humphries, Head of Busi­ness Oper­a­tions at Vycarb.

“We are thrilled to host this dia­logue on water­fronts of the future in New York City, where we have 520 miles of water­front – more than Mia­mi, Boston, Los Ange­les, and San Fran­cis­co com­bined,” said Wang. ​“While you may hear peo­ple talk about ocean car­bon, blue high­ways, urban aqua­cul­ture, and long-term mon­i­tor­ing, these solu­tions have been pilot­ed right here on Gov­er­nors Island over the past two years thanks to the lead­er­ship of these panelists.”

Pan­elists spoke to the pow­er of data for inform­ing and dri­ving cli­mate action. ​“With data, you can make so many informed deci­sions,” said Wil­son, includ­ing with the company’s Inter­net of Things (IoT) water qual­i­ty mon­i­tor­ing devices. ​“Thanks to our pilot on Gov­er­nors Island, Duro UAS can prove that after storms, the East Riv­er isn’t clean enough for swim­ming, but when there are no storms, it can be clean enough for recreation.” 

Their lon­gi­tu­di­nal data was help­ful for Sea­weed City, a non­prof­it that grows sea­weed to extract excess nutri­ents and pol­lu­tants from the water and bring every­day New York­ers on the water. Mah­mud shared how com­par­ing results from their aqua­cul­ture farms on Gov­er­nors Island and New­town Creek gen­er­at­ed insights into how water qual­i­ty and con­di­tions in dif­fer­ent urban water­bod­ies affect sea­weed farm­ing. Sea­weed City made their first sug­ar kelp har­vest in April 2024 and are cul­ti­vat­ing gracilar­ia and sea let­tuce for plant­i­ng this summer. 

Vycarb, a Brook­lyn-based start­up rev­o­lu­tion­iz­ing the car­bon cap­ture and stor­age indus­try, also val­ues real-time data. ​“A lot of sim­i­lar solu­tions to remov­ing CO2 are miss­ing the accu­rate mea­sure­ment com­po­nent,” Humphries argued. ​“If you’re adding mate­r­i­al to the ocean – you should know exact­ly what you’re doing to the water. With accu­rate data, we can build com­mu­ni­ty trust in what we’re doing.”

With its first of its kind in-water CO2 mea­sure­ment and removal solu­tion, Vycarb enables the safe, respon­si­ble long-term cap­ture of cli­­mate-war­m­ing CO2 with­out dis­rupt­ing the local ecosys­tem. Their sys­tem helps to reverse ocean acid­i­fi­ca­tion while gen­er­at­ing data-backed car­bon cred­its. Vycarb first pilot­ed on Gov­er­nors Island in 2023, scaled up to a sec­ond NYC pilot at the Brook­lyn Navy Yard in 2024, and are now seek­ing indus­try part­ners on a nation­al and glob­al scale.

For Empire Clean Cities, com­mu­ni­ty also dri­ves their mis­sion. The non­prof­it aims to demon­strate how last-mile deliv­ery com­pa­nies can adopt a safe, reli­able, cost effec­tive, and sus­tain­able logis­tics solu­tion for seafood, bev­er­ages, and oth­er car­go in high­ly con­gest­ed urban areas. Few­er trucks on the street will reduce air pol­lu­tion and improve traf­fic safe­ty for res­i­dents in the South Bronx and oth­er neigh­bor­hoods where last-mile ware­hous­es are concentrated. 

“By replac­ing trucks with elec­tric car­go bikes, paired with mid­dle-mile mar­itime solu­tions to South Street Sea­port and Gov­er­nors Island, we’re reduc­ing traf­fic and con­ges­tion,” assured O’Brien. ​“We’re low­er­ing car­bon emis­sions, avoid­ing air pol­lu­tants, and improv­ing safe­ty, effec­tive­ly cre­at­ing more liv­able, equi­table communities.”

Where does all this lead by 2050? Pan­elists spoke to their vision for a city with safe streets, clean air, and a vibrant water­front where New York­ers, sea­weed, and wildlife can swim and thrive, thanks to the suc­cess of the cli­mate solu­tions that start­ed at a small scale today.

A grow­ing move­ment around cli­mate tech and sustainability

Over­all, the Cli­mate Solu­tions Show­case high­light­ed the grow­ing move­ment around cli­mate tech and sus­tain­abil­i­ty. As a liv­ing lab­o­ra­to­ry in New York Har­bor, Gov­er­nors Island sup­ports inno­va­tion and col­lab­o­ra­tion among com­pa­nies and orga­ni­za­tions that are mak­ing sig­nif­i­cant con­tri­bu­tions towards city-lev­el cli­mate mit­i­ga­tion and adap­ta­tion goals. Fol­low along for more updates on our cli­mate pilot­ing activ­i­ties as we progress through the sum­mer and the rest of the year. 

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island’s cli­mate pro­grams are made pos­si­ble with the gen­er­ous sup­port of Ama­zon, Con Edi­son, Don­ald A. Pels Char­i­ta­ble Trust, and the New York Com­mu­ni­ty Trust.

May 19 3:44 pm

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island today unveiled its sum­mer sea­son cal­en­dar with a host of events and expe­ri­ences in hon­or of the Island’s 20^th year open to the pub­lic. The pro­gram­ming announced today high­lights the extra­or­di­nary range of events, cul­tur­al offer­ings, and recre­ation­al oppor­tu­ni­ties that have made Gov­er­nors Island a beloved des­ti­na­tion since first open­ing to the pub­lic in the sum­mer of 2005. This mile­stone sea­son cel­e­brates two decades of trans­for­ma­tion — from a for­mer mil­i­tary base into a thriv­ing pub­lic oasis — with a line­up that includes immer­sive pub­lic art instal­la­tions, open-air con­certs and food fes­ti­vals, unpar­al­leled recre­ation­al and edu­ca­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties, world-class sport­ing events, and more. 

“Gov­er­nors Island is an extra­or­di­nary exam­ple of what is pos­si­ble when we invest in acces­si­ble, equi­table pub­lic spaces that serve all New York­ers,” said Deputy May­or for Hous­ing, Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment, and Work­force Adol­fo Car­rión Jr. ​“From cli­mate inno­va­tion and arts pro­gram­ming to small busi­ness oppor­tu­ni­ties and recre­ation, Gov­er­nors Island embod­ies the very best of New York City’s cre­ativ­i­ty and resilience. The Adams admin­is­tra­tion is proud to cel­e­brate twen­ty years of pub­lic access to this won­der­ful place – and is excit­ed for the upcom­ing sum­mer sea­son ahead.”

“Over the past two decades, Gov­er­nors Island has grown from a hid­den gem into a vibrant pub­lic resource that reflects the spir­it and diver­si­ty of New York City,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“As we cel­e­brate 20 years of pub­lic access, we are thrilled to hon­or the Island’s remark­able evo­lu­tion while con­tin­u­ing to offer the high-qual­i­ty and acces­si­ble events, pro­grams, recre­ation­al oppor­tu­ni­ties, open space, and arts and cul­tur­al expe­ri­ences that make Gov­er­nors Island a tru­ly sin­gu­lar des­ti­na­tion. We hope to see you on the fer­ry this summer!”

Gov­er­nors Island first opened to the pub­lic in June 2005 for the first time in two cen­turies, wel­com­ing 8,000 vis­i­tors across four sum­mer week­ends. The pub­lic sea­son expand­ed to four months the fol­low­ing year and five months in 2008. The Island wel­comed its inau­gur­al year-round ten­ants, the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School and Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil, in 2010. The same year, the Gov­er­nors Island Park and Pub­lic Space Mas­ter Plan was released, pro­vid­ing a roadmap for improve­ments to ameni­ties and land­scapes as well as a new park on the Island’s south­ern end. The first 30 acres of the South Island Park opened to the pub­lic in 2014, and the park’s cul­mi­nat­ing fea­ture — The Hills — opened to the pub­lic in 2016. 

In 2020, the Trust and the New York City Mayor’s Office announced a vision to cre­ate the Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions, a com­mu­ni­ty to accel­er­ate cli­mate solu­tions for cities on Gov­er­nors Island. In April 2023, fol­low­ing a two-year com­pet­i­tive process led by the Trust and the City of New York, The New York Cli­mate Exchange was select­ed as the anchor research and edu­ca­tion­al insti­tu­tion for this ini­tia­tive. After open­ing to the pub­lic year-round in 2021, Gov­er­nors Island cel­e­brat­ed a major mile­stone in 2024, wel­com­ing more than 970,000 indi­vid­u­als — the largest num­ber of annu­al vis­i­tors in the Island’s history. 

OPEN SPACE, AMENI­TIES, AND ATTRACTIONS

As Gov­er­nors Island cel­e­brates 20 years of being open to the pub­lic, it con­tin­ues to serve as a vital resource for all New York­ers. The Island is open dai­ly, offer­ing vis­i­tors access to 120 acres of expan­sive open space just min­utes from Low­er Man­hat­tan and Brook­lyn. The Island’s 43-acre, award-win­ning park — rec­og­nized for its inno­v­a­tive, cli­mate-resilient design — fea­tures rolling lawns, vibrant land­scapes, and ample space for pic­nick­ing and out­door recre­ation. Ham­mock Grove’s rec­og­niz­able red ham­mocks com­ple­ment sev­er­al expand­ed path­ways nes­tled among a young urban for­est, and The Hills offer urban hik­ing paths along­side unpar­al­leled views of Low­er Man­hat­tan and New York Harbor

Bike rentals from Blaz­ing Sad­dles are avail­able dai­ly for vis­i­tors to explore the Island’s sev­en miles of car-free bike paths, with Free Bike Morn­ings every week­day between 10am-12pm and free bike lessons on select sum­mer week­ends. The Island is also home to three CitiBike docks, locat­ed at each fer­ry land­ing and at Pic­nic Point. 

Gov­er­nors Island Nation­al Mon­u­ment, includ­ing Fort Jay and Cas­tle Williams, will open Fri­day-Sun­day and all Fed­er­al Hol­i­days from 10am-5pm start­ing Memo­r­i­al Day Week­end for both ranger-led and self-guid­ed tours. The Urban Farm — home to GrowNYC’s teach­ing gar­den and Earth Mat­ter NY’s Com­post Learn­ing Cen­ter and Soil Start Farm — is open week­ends from 12 – 4pm; play:groundNYC’s Adven­ture Play­ground, a unique kids-only space imag­i­na­tion and explo­ration, is open every week­end from 12 – 4pm. 

Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil (LMCC)’s Arts Cen­ter at Gov­er­nors Island will hold pub­lic pro­grams and open stu­dios through­out the sum­mer along­side their annu­al Riv­er to Riv­er Fes­ti­val; the Insti­tute for Pub­lic Archi­tec­ture (IPA) will hold open library hours and exhi­bi­tions every week­end; Col­lec­tive Retreats is open through Novem­ber for overnight stays in their glamp­ing-style accom­mo­da­tions along with din­ner and drinks at their Sun­set Ter­race cock­tail bar and Three Peaks Lodge water­front restau­rant; and QC Spa New York is open dai­ly with two heat­ed out­door pools along­side saunas, steam rooms, relax­ation treat­ments, mas­sages, a full-ser­vice bistro, sen­so­ry saunas, a salt room, and more. 

Vis­i­tors will also be able to wit­ness inno­v­a­tive cli­mate solu­tions in action on Gov­er­nors Island this sum­mer — a record-break­ing 17 dif­fer­ent cli­mate pilot­ing projects will be vis­i­ble through­out the Island. Pilot projects will host live demon­stra­tions and work­shops sev­er­al week­ends dur­ing the sum­mer months, with com­mu­ni­ty demon­stra­tion days to be announced. The New York Cli­mate Exchange will also offer tours and info ses­sions, with dates to be announced. 

The Trust will offer wheel­chair-acces­si­ble tram ser­vice, free and avail­able to all guests. These elec­tric acces­si­bil­i­ty vehi­cles will depart from Sois­sons Land­ing and Yan­kee Pier Fri­day through Sun­day from Memo­r­i­al Day to Labor Day, stop­ping at sev­er­al key loca­tions through­out the Island. 

EVENTS

Gov­er­nors Island remains one of New York City’s most unique loca­tions for events of all kinds. See a selec­tion of upcom­ing ear­ly sum­mer events below, with more to be announced through­out the season:

• Gov­er­nors Island Nature Insect Walk – May 30
• Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Council’s Riv­er to Riv­er Fes­ti­val – May 31-Octo­ber 26
• Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix – June 7 – 8
• NYC Laven­der Fes­ti­val – June 7 – 8
• Jazz Age Lawn Par­ty – June 14 – 15, August 9 – 10
• Porch Stomp folk music fes­ti­val – June 21
• FAD Mar­ket Gov­er­nors Island pop-ups – June 21 – 22, July 19 – 20, August 16 – 17
• The Great Nosh NYC Pic­nic Fes­ti­val – June 22
• NYCRUNS Fire­crack­er 5K & 10K – July 5
• NYC Poet­ry Fes­ti­val – July 12 – 13
• Sun­dae Ser­mon Music Fes­ti­val: A Best of the Boros Pre­view – July 19

FOOD VEN­DORS

Gov­er­nors Island is a grow­ing culi­nary des­ti­na­tion with a diverse mix of cuisines avail­able to vis­i­tors dai­ly. New offer­ings this year include food at Threes Brew­ing as well as Pizze­ria Fan­tas­ti­ca — a reimag­ined con­cept in Colonels Row from the Piz­za Yard team.

Return­ing ven­dors include Island Oys­ter, Joe Cof­fee Com­pa­ny, Lit­tle Eva’s, Taco Vista, Fauzia’s Heav­en­ly Delights, Threes Brew­ing, Sea Bis­cuit, Car­reau Club, Tokyo Drum­stick, La Newyork­i­na, Mak­i­na Café, On Tea Road, and more. The Food­ie Spot — a part­ner­ship with the New York City Hous­ing Author­i­ty (NYCHA)’s Office of Res­i­dent Eco­nom­ic Empow­er­ment and Sus­tain­abil­i­ty — will return to Liggett Ter­race for the fifth year in a row, spot­light­ing small busi­ness­es owned by grad­u­ates of NYCHA’s Food Busi­ness Path­ways pro­gram. Misi­pas­ta x Gov­er­nors Island, an inti­mate out­door sum­mer din­ner series pow­ered by Resy fea­tur­ing food from chef and restau­ran­teur Mis­sy Rob­bins, returns for the fifth sum­mer in a row June 10-August 29. 

Open Dai­ly

• Island Oys­ter – Mon­day-Fri­day, 11am-8pm; Sat­ur­day-Sun­day, 10am-8pm (week­end hours until 10pm begin­ning Memo­r­i­al Day Weekend)
• Joe Cof­fee Com­pa­ny in the Bat­tery Mar­itime Build­ing fer­ry ter­mi­nal – Dai­ly, 7am-2pm (open until 4pm begin­ning Memo­r­i­al Day Weekend)
• Joe Cof­fee Com­pa­ny at Liggett Ter­race – Week­ends, 10am-5pm (open dai­ly begin­ning Memo­r­i­al Day Weekend)
• Lit­tle Eva’s – Week­days, 11am-5pm; week­ends, 11am-6pm
• Mak­i­na Café – Week­days, 9am-3pm; week­ends, 10am‑4:30pm
• Pizze­ria Fan­tas­ti­ca (for­mer­ly Piz­za Yard) – Dai­ly, 10:30am-5pm
• Taco Vista – Dai­ly, 12 – 4pm
• Three Peaks Lodge at Col­lec­tive Retreats – Dai­ly for Hap­py Hour, din­ner, and bar service

Open Week­ends and Select Weekdays

• Brigs Sweet Shop – Week­ends, 10am-4pm
• Car­reau Club – Week­ends, 12 – 6pm
• Fauzia’s Heav­en­ly Delights – Week­ends, 11am-6pm
• The Food­ie Spot – Fri­day-Sun­day, 11am-5pm
• La Newyork­i­na – Week­ends, 12 – 7 pm
• On Tea Road – Week­ends, 12 – 5pm
• Sea Bis­cuit – Week­ends, 12 – 7pm
• Threes Brew­ing – Week­ends, 11am-6pm 
• Tokyo Drum­stick – Week­ends, 11am-6pm (open Wednes­day-Sun­day begin­ning July 2)

GOV­ER­NORS ISLAND ARTS

Through pub­lic art works, the annu­al Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence pro­gram, and pub­lic events and pro­gram­ming, Gov­er­nors Island Arts — the arts and cul­tur­al pro­gram pre­sent­ed by the Trust — cre­ates trans­for­ma­tive encoun­ters with art for all New York­ers, invit­ing artists and researchers to engage with the Island’s lay­ered his­to­ries, envi­ron­ments, and archi­tec­ture. Vis­it www​.gov​is​land​.org/arts to view the program’s pre­vi­ous­ly announced sea­son of cul­tur­al offer­ings includ­ing group show Rest/​Play, the New York pre­mière of Tou­ki Delphine’s Fire­bird, and more. 

VIS­I­TOR INFORMATION

Gov­er­nors Island’s sum­mer hours will return begin­ning May 23, 2025. From Memo­r­i­al Day through Labor Day, the Island will remain open until 10pm Sun­day-Thurs­day and 11pm Fri­day-Sat­ur­day, with the South Island Park — includ­ing areas like The Hills, Ham­mock Grove, and Pic­nic Point — remain­ing open until dusk. From Labor Day through Memo­r­i­al Day, the Island is open dai­ly from 7am to 6pm. 

Trust for Gov­er­nors Island-oper­at­ed fer­ries run dai­ly between the Bat­tery Mar­itime Build­ing at 10 South Street in Low­er Man­hat­tan and Sois­sons Land­ing on the Island. Trust-oper­at­ed fer­ries also serve two Brook­lyn loca­tions dur­ing the sum­mer months — Pier Six in Brook­lyn Bridge Park and Atlantic Basin in Red Hook. These routes run direct­ly to Yan­kee Pier on Gov­er­nors Island from each loca­tion every Sat­ur­day, Sun­day, and hol­i­day Mon­day from May 23 through Sep­tem­ber 14, 2025. For sched­ules and tick­et­ing infor­ma­tion, vis­it the Gov­er­nors Island website.

Vis­i­tors are encour­aged to reserve fer­ry tick­ets in advance of their trip through the Gov­er­nors Island web­site. Round-trip fer­ry tick­ets cost $5 for adults. Fer­ries oper­at­ed by the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island are always free for chil­dren 12 and under, old­er adults 65 and up, res­i­dents of NYCHA, IDNYC hold­ers, cur­rent and for­mer mil­i­tary ser­vice mem­bers, and Gov­er­nors Island mem­bers. Fer­ries before 11am on Sat­ur­days and Sun­days are free for all. There is no sur­charge for bicy­cles or strollers on Trust-oper­at­ed fer­ries at any time.

The Trust also offers free fer­ry fares for non­prof­it and com­mu­ni­ty-based orga­ni­za­tions, youth camps, and senior cen­ters. To inquire about group vis­its, orga­ni­za­tions may email groupvisits@​govisland.​org.

NYC Fer­ry ser­vice to Gov­er­nors Island on the South Brook­lyn route oper­ates on week­days and non-sum­mer week­ends. On sum­mer week­ends dur­ing the high­est rid­er­ship sea­son, NYC Fer­ry will con­tin­ue to oper­ate its ded­i­cat­ed sea­son­al shut­tle from Pier 11/​Wall Street in Low­er Man­hat­tan. NYC Fer­ry rid­ers may take any route to Pier 11 and trans­fer to the shut­tle for free, or NYC Fer­ry rid­ers may trans­fer for free at either Atlantic Ave/​Pier 6 or Red Hook/​Atlantic Basin to Trust-oper­at­ed Brook­lyn fer­ries. For tick­et­ing infor­ma­tion and full sched­ules for NYC Fer­ry, vis­it the NYC Fer­ry web­site, www.ferry.nyc.

The Gov­er­nors Island 2025 sea­son is gen­er­ous­ly sup­port­ed by The Black­stone Char­i­ta­ble Foun­da­tion, Bloomberg Phil­an­thropies, Trin­i­ty Church NYC, and STIHL Inc.

“For the past two decades, the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island has played a vital role in trans­form­ing this pub­lic resource into a vibrant and acces­si­ble recre­ation­al and edu­ca­tion­al space,” said Con­gress­man Dan Gold­man. ​“By devel­op­ing Gov­er­nors Island into a ver­sa­tile des­ti­na­tion serv­ing a wide range of pur­pos­es, the Trust has cre­at­ed oppor­tu­ni­ties for recre­ation, cul­ture, and con­nec­tion for all New York­ers. I look for­ward to join­ing them this sum­mer for their excit­ing line­up of events.”

“Gov­er­nors Island is tru­ly one of our city’s hid­den gems, and it is hard to believe that this is the 20^th sea­son that it will be open to the pub­lic,” said U.S. Rep. Jer­ry Nadler. ​“I am hon­ored that I worked on reac­quir­ing the Island from the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment, and that New York­ers today have this won­der­ful park in the cen­ter of the har­bor to play, explore and relax in. It is tru­ly an incred­i­ble one-of-a-kind New York attraction.”

“For two decades, Gov­er­nors Island has been the per­fect warm-weath­er escape for New York­ers and tourists – there’s more than 120 acres of open space, recre­ation­al activ­i­ties, arts and cul­ture, fam­i­ly pro­gram­ming, and local his­to­ry,” said Man­hat­tan Bor­ough Pres­i­dent Mark Levine. ​“With a five-minute fer­ry ride, you can escape the con­crete jun­gle for a day. I encour­age every­one to take advan­tage of this unique get­away and bask in all that Gov­er­nors Island has to offer.”

“As we mark 20 years of Gov­er­nors Island being open to the pub­lic, I’m proud to cel­e­brate all that this space has become — a hub for recre­ation, edu­ca­tion, cli­mate inno­va­tion, and cul­tur­al vibran­cy,” said Coun­cilmem­ber Christo­pher Marte. ​“For Low­er Man­hat­tan res­i­dents and New York­ers across the city, the Island has trans­formed into an acces­si­ble refuge from the pace of city life, while also serv­ing as a site for for­ward-think­ing cli­mate and sus­tain­abil­i­ty work. I look for­ward to see­ing even more fam­i­lies, stu­dents, and work­ers take the fer­ry this sum­mer to enjoy every­thing this unique space has to offer.”

“The secret is out: in the two decades since it first opened to the pub­lic, Gov­er­nors Island has become one of New York’s great pub­lic spaces, and a place filled with art, edu­ca­tion, sci­ence and recre­ation­al oppor­tu­ni­ties,” said State Sen­a­tor Andrew Gounardes. ​“It’s a tru­ly spe­cial place and a much-need­ed oasis in our city where New York­ers can learn, explore and sim­ply enjoy the out­doors. I’m look­ing for­ward to spend­ing time there with my own fam­i­ly this summer.”

“As a father and a life­long New York­er, I’ve always seen Gov­er­nors Island as a place where fam­i­lies, stu­dents, and neigh­bors from every bor­ough can come togeth­er to enjoy the best our city has to offer,” said Assem­bly­man Charles D. Fall. ​“Whether it’s through open space, cul­tur­al events, or cli­mate edu­ca­tion, the Island con­tin­ues to inspire and con­nect us. I’m proud to cel­e­brate 20 years of this incred­i­ble pub­lic trea­sure — and I look for­ward to many more sum­mers of shared memories.”

“I’m thrilled that Gov­er­nors Island has reached the 20-year mile­stone! It is with­out a doubt one of the most spec­tac­u­lar­ly beau­ti­ful spots in New York City,” said Coun­cilmem­ber Lin­coln Restler. ​“I hope Brook­lynites take advan­tage of the easy fer­ry access and enjoy extend­ed evening hours and won­der­ful sum­mer pro­gram­ming on Gov­er­nors Island!”

“For more than twen­ty years, Gov­er­nors Island has been a hid­den gem in our back­yard — wel­com­ing Low­er Man­hat­tan res­i­dents and vis­i­tors alike, and shin­ing as an unpar­al­leled oasis of green space, cul­ture and com­mu­ni­ty!” said Man­hat­tan Com­mu­ni­ty Board 1 Chair, Tam­my Meltzer. ​“We are so proud to cel­e­brate the 20^th sum­mer sea­son with the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island, show­cas­ing the bucol­ic park­land and nature, deli­cious fes­ti­vals, inspir­ing art, unfor­get­table con­certs, and inno­v­a­tive cli­mate lead­er­ship. From pic­nick­ing with friends and fir­ing up the bar­be­cue at Pic­nic Point to drift­ing away in Ham­mock Grove, explor­ing the Urban Farm’s gar­dens, or dis­cov­er­ing new works at the LMCC Arts Cen­ter and Artists in Res­i­dence stu­dios — there is so much to do and see, it tru­ly is the place to enjoy all sum­mer long. I urge all to not miss the boat (or the free, wheel­chair-acces­si­ble tram ser­vice) as we can’t wait to see fam­i­lies, neigh­bors, and vis­i­tors enjoy­ing the beau­ti­ful gar­dens, lawns, and all that our urban oasis offers while sad­dling up for bike rides and soak­ing in the spir­it of adven­ture on this extra­or­di­nary island!”

“I’m pleased to wel­come vis­i­tors back to Gov­er­nors Island this sum­mer sea­son,” said Nation­al Park Ser­vice Man­hat­tan Sites Super­in­ten­dent Shirley McK­in­ney. ​“We will con­tin­ue to allow self-guid­ed pub­lic tours of the his­toric forts. Park Rangers will be on site to answer ques­tions and pro­vide infor­ma­tion to our guests.”

Apr 23 12:00 am

Gov­er­nors Island Arts today announced a dynam­ic sea­son of pub­lic art­works and per­for­mances as part of the 2025 sea­son start­ing May 17. The sea­son is anchored by Rest/​Play, a new group exhi­bi­tion that explores the inter­sec­tion of art, design, and pub­lic space, along­side the con­tin­u­a­tion of the INTER­VEN­TIONS per­for­mance series, which will fea­ture the US pre­mière of Lau­ra Cemin and Bian­ca Hisse’s How the Land Lies and the New York City pre­mière of Tou­ki Delphine’s Fire­bird. This spring also marks the return of the sea­son­al Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence pro­gram, with 24 NYC-based arts non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tions invig­o­rat­ing the Island’s his­toric hous­es with sea­son­al instal­la­tions, artist res­i­den­cies, work­shops, and oth­er pub­lic pro­grams. The sea­son will kick off with a spe­cial cel­e­bra­tion, free and open to the pub­lic, on Sat­ur­day, May 17, 2025. 

“As we ush­er in Gov­er­nors Island’s twen­ti­eth year open to the pub­lic, we are proud to present a pro­gram that will con­tin­ue to bring artists, New York­ers, and vis­i­tors from around the world togeth­er to engage with bold pub­lic art and immer­sive open space in a set­ting unlike any oth­er,” said Lau­ren Haynes, Head Cura­tor, Gov­er­nors Island Arts, and Vice Pres­i­dent at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“The exhi­bi­tions, per­for­mances, and pro­grams announced today high­light diverse artis­tic expres­sions, invite moments of deep reflec­tion, and — per­haps most impor­tant­ly — cel­e­brate the myr­i­ad ways we spend our time in this unique place.”

Group Exhi­bi­tion: Rest/​Play

May 17-Novem­ber 2, 2025

Fea­tured artists: Nina Chanel Abney; Lenka Clay­ton & Phillip Andrew Lewis; Arlene Shechet; Hank Willis Thomas; more to be announced.

Rest/​Play invites vis­i­tors to expe­ri­ence Gov­er­nors Island like nev­er before — bal­anc­ing moments of relax­ation with bursts of cre­ativ­i­ty and joy. The exhi­bi­tion is a cel­e­bra­tion of how we spend our time in this unique space, whether it’s unwind­ing or immers­ing our­selves in dynam­ic art. Rest trans­forms the Island with artist-designed seat­ing that merges cre­ativ­i­ty with func­tion. These inno­v­a­tive works not only pro­vide a place to sit and refresh, but also offer a chance to pause, reflect, and recon­nect with the sur­round­ing nature. Play brings ener­gy and col­or to the island, with bold, inter­ac­tive art­works that spark joy and inspire deep reflec­tion. The vibrant use of form and hue cre­ates a sen­so­ry expe­ri­ence that refresh­es both body and mind.

Rest/​Play is curat­ed by Lau­ren Haynes, Head Cura­tor of Gov­er­nors Island Arts and Vice Pres­i­dent at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island.

INTER­VEN­TIONS Per­for­mance Series

Through this site-respon­sive, mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary annu­al per­for­mance series, Gov­er­nors Island Arts presents local, nation­al, and inter­na­tion­al artists and invites audi­ences to expe­ri­ence work made and adapt­ed for out­door spaces. 

How the Land Lies (US Pre­mière)

Lau­ra Cemin and Bian­ca Hisse 

May 17, 2:15 & 7:30PM

May 18, 3PM

Music by Vera Vice

Light­ing design by Sofia Ivarsson

Cos­tume design by Kairi Mahdla

Co-pro­duced by Kias­ma The­ater, and Sõltumatu Tantsu Lava

Fea­tur­ing five local dancers, How the Land Lies, direct­ed and chore­o­graphed by Lau­ra Cemin and Bian­ca Hisse, is a per­for­mance piece incor­po­rat­ing move­ment and scrolling LED signs. Usu­al­ly encoun­tered in pub­lic spaces as low-key adver­tise­ments, the LEDs become ves­sels to con­vey how lan­guage influ­ences mobil­i­ty. While the scrolling text flash­es tourism slo­gans and visa ques­tion­naires, the dancers — all of whom car­ry expe­ri­ences of migra­tion — inter­act with the signs through move­ment. Mean­ings unfold and bor­ders slow­ly blur: who can stay and who must leave? Who is seen and who remains hid­den? What is allowed and what is forbidden?

Fire­bird (NYC Pre­mière)

Tou­ki Delphine 

Octo­ber 3, 7PM

Octo­ber 4, 7PM

Con­cept, music and visu­als by Bo Koek, John van Oost­rum, Rik Elst­geest, and Chris Doyle

Con­cept and design by John van Oost­rum, The­un Mosk

Sound design by Toon Boland

Ams­ter­dam-based artist col­lec­tive Tou­ki Delphine’s Fire­bird, pre­vi­ous­ly pre­sent­ed at Mass MoCA, fea­tures an orches­tra of light made from more than 600 recy­cled car tail­lights that illu­mi­nate the dance of the fire­bird. A thor­ough­ly hyp­not­ic expe­ri­ence, this rule-break­ing con­cert pro­gram and extra-ter­res­tri­al instal­la­tion con­nects sound and light to cre­ate a sym­pho­ny of light re-envi­sion­ing Igor Stravinsky’s 1919 Fire­bird Suite as an homage. On Gov­er­nors Island, the work will illu­mi­nate the Parade Ground, an expan­sive field with the Low­er Man­hat­tan sky­line act­ing as backdrop. 

Pre­vi­ous per­for­mances pre­sent­ed as part of this series include works by Modesto ​“Flako” Jimenez, Indige­nous Enter­prise, Dance Hegin­both­am, Rena Anakwe, Inua Ellams, and Lenio Kak­lea. INTER­VEN­TIONS is curat­ed by Juan Pablo Siles, Asso­ciate Cura­tor and Pro­duc­er at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. Tick­ets to all per­for­mances will be avail­able online at www​.gov​is​land​.org.

Pub­lic Art 

There are cur­rent­ly sev­en tem­po­rary and long-term pub­lic art­works, pre­sent­ed through Gov­er­nors Island Arts, on dis­play year-round through­out Gov­er­nors Island’s park and his­toric land­scapes: Sheila Berger’s BIRD MMXXI­II, Sam Van Aken’s The Open Orchard, Duke Riley’s Not for Nut­ten, Mark Dion’s The Field Sta­tion of the Melan­choly Marine Biol­o­gist, Shantell Martin’s Church, Rachel Whiteread’s Cab­in, and Mark Handforth’s Yan­kee Hang­er.

Enjoy more ways to con­nect with pub­lic art via the Gov­er­nors Island guide avail­able on Bloomberg Con­nects, the free arts and cul­ture app. Deep dive into the Island’s art­works with an inter­ac­tive map, a self-guid­ed walk­ing tour, audio com­men­tary by cura­tors, and much more. 

Orga­ni­za­tions in Residence

Each year, two dozen arts and cul­tur­al non­prof­its uti­lize space inside the his­toric hous­es of Nolan Park and Colonels Row to present a robust cal­en­dar of free pub­lic pro­grams, host artist res­i­den­cies, and engage vis­i­tors in spe­cial activ­i­ties for all ages — includ­ing the return of month­ly THIRD Sat­ur­days, with spe­cial per­for­mances and more. Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence are open week­ends from 11am-5pm, May 17-Novem­ber 2, 2025. 

• Amer­i­can Indi­an Com­mu­ni­ty House Man­hat­tan
• AnkhLave Arts Alliance Man­hat­tan
• Art­Crawl Harlem Man­hat­tan
• BronxArt­Space The Bronx
• Bronx Coun­cil on the Arts The Bronx
• Bil­lion Oys­ter Project Man­hat­tan
• I am caribBE­ING Brook­lyn
• Cli­mate Imag­i­nar­i­um Man­hat­tan
• Dancers Unlim­it­ed Brook­lyn*
• DuYe Moves Brook­lyn
• Escap­ing Time: Art from U.S. Pris­ons Man­hat­tan
• Filmshop Man­hat­tan
• For­est for Trees Col­lec­tive Brook­lyn*
• Har­vest­works Man­hat­tan
• KODA Brook­lyn
• The Muse­um of Con­tem­po­rary African Dias­po­ran Arts (MoCA­DA) Brook­lyn
• New York Latin Amer­i­can Art Tri­en­ni­al Man­hat­tan
• Res­i­den­cy Unlim­it­ed (RU) Brook­lyn
• The Super­Geo­graph­ics Brook­lyn*
• Swale Brook­lyn
• Tai­wanese Amer­i­can Arts Coun­cil Queens
• West Harlem Art Fund Man­hat­tan

*First time pro­gram participants.

Gov­er­nors Island Arts presents its pro­gram with sup­port from Bloomberg Phil­an­thropies, Cha­ri­na Endow­ment Fund, Star­dust Fund, Sur­go Foun­da­tion US, Don­ald A. Pels Char­i­ta­ble Trust, the New York State Coun­cil on the Arts (NYSCA) with the sup­port of the Office of the Gov­er­nor and the New York State Leg­is­la­ture, Car­rie Den­ning Jack­son and Dan Jack­son, the Rip­ple Foun­da­tion, the Howard Gilman Foun­da­tion, and the Jerome L. Greene Foundation.

Mar 4 3:44 pm

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island announced today the win­ners of the annu­al Cli­mate Solu­tions Chal­lenge. The sec­ond annu­al call for pro­pos­als focused on the theme of Cir­cu­lar Econ­o­my, seek­ing projects and tech­nolo­gies that reduce the cli­mate impact of the urban waste stream and extend resource recov­ery to busi­ness­es and neigh­bor­hoods. Win­ners will receive a site on Gov­er­nors Island to demon­strate their projects, grant awards of $10,000, and access to a com­mon pool of addi­tion­al funds to sup­port pilot implementation. 

“The selec­tion of the sec­ond annu­al Cli­mate Solu­tions Chal­lenge win­ners exem­pli­fies New York City’s posi­tion as a glob­al hub for cli­mate inno­va­tion and lever­ages the unique assets at Gov­er­nors Island to incu­bate cli­mate solu­tions,” said First Deputy May­or Maria Tor­res-Springer. ​“Con­grat­u­la­tions to the win­ners of the chal­lenge, who will undoubt­ed­ly demon­strate impact­ful tech­nolo­gies to sup­port a more cir­cu­lar economy.”

“Gov­er­nors Island has become a mean­ing­ful test­bed for inno­v­a­tive solu­tions that will cre­ate more resilient and sus­tain­able cities,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“These chal­lenge win­ners are ded­i­cat­ed to build­ing a bet­ter future and to grow­ing their busi­ness­es here in New York City. We look for­ward to all they will learn and accom­plish dur­ing their time on the Island and can­not wait to wel­come all New York­ers to come out and engage with these projects this summer.” 

“Invest­ment in inno­v­a­tive tech­nol­o­gy — and the indi­vid­u­als devel­op­ing it — is an invest­ment in our col­lec­tive future,” said Lau­ren Wang, Direc­tor of Cli­mate Pro­grams at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“Shift­ing to a cir­cu­lar econ­o­my that reuses, refur­bish­es, and recov­ers is key to achiev­ing an equi­table, net-zero city. We look for­ward to sup­port­ing these com­pa­nies on their jour­neys while shin­ing a light on how solu­tions move from con­cept to scal­able product.” 

Projects select­ed fol­low­ing from this year’s Cir­cu­lar Econ­o­my Chal­lenge are:

• Arbon, a Direct Air Cap­ture (DAC) com­pa­ny that will pilot their humid­i­ty-swing tech­nol­o­gy to cap­ture and store CO2 (car­bon diox­ide) from ambi­ent air using an ener­gy-effi­cient, durable, and afford­able process, while also gen­er­at­ing car­bon cred­its and enabling down­stream appli­ca­tions of cap­tured CO2. Founder: Xiaoyang Shi
• Birdsview, a Nor­we­gian-based com­pa­ny that will pilot their ground-pen­e­trat­ing radar (GPR) struc­tur­al assess­ment tech­nol­o­gy, which uses pro­pri­etary analy­sis soft­ware to assess the inter­nal con­di­tion of build­ings and reduces waste by opti­miz­ing the preser­va­tion of exist­ing struc­tures. Founders: Olav Sko­gen and Simen Husøy
• Car­bon­CLAIR, a New York-based com­pa­ny ded­i­cat­ed to improv­ing urban air qual­i­ty by cap­tur­ing pol­lu­tants and CO2 in out­door envi­ron­ments, while pro­duc­ing a byprod­uct with com­mon indus­tri­al appli­ca­tions. They will pilot their off-grid mobile air qual­i­ty unit at a con­struc­tion and demo­li­tion site. Founders: Fares Al-Iahabi and Nazare­na Soria Hadad
• CO Adap­tive, a Brook­lyn-based com­pa­ny that will pilot their mod­u­lar wall sys­tem, made of reclaimed lum­ber, to retro­fit exist­ing build­ings to pas­sive house lev­el stan­dards of air­tight­ness and ener­gy effi­cien­cy. Founders: Ruth Man­dl and Bob­by Johnston
• Mira Intel, a New York-based com­pa­ny that will pilot their drone-based struc­tur­al assess­ments and pro­pri­etary analy­sis soft­ware to enhance build­ing and infra­struc­ture resilience through enhanced mon­i­tor­ing capabilities. Founder: Danielle Nicholson
• Phy­to­stone LLC, a woman-owned stu­dio mak­ing advanced nat­ur­al build­ing mate­ri­als. They will pilot Cast Car­bon, a biochar-enriched archi­tec­tur­al wall tile that is biodegrad­able, effi­cient­ly stores car­bon from sal­vaged pine pal­lets through a low-car­bon man­u­fac­tur­ing process and is mold-proof and fire­proof. Founder: Emi­ly Majewski
• Plan­taer, a Brook­lyn-based com­pa­ny ded­i­cat­ed to trans­form­ing urban envi­ron­ments through archi­tec­tur­al solu­tions that inte­grate veg­e­ta­tion direct­ly into build­ing mate­ri­als. They will pilot their liv­ing con­crete façade tech­nol­o­gy, a low car­bon, engi­neered con­crete that improves air qual­i­ty and mit­i­gates extreme heat. Founder: Manuel Ben­itez Ruiz
• Rego, the dig­i­tal util­i­ty meter for waste man­age­ment, which pro­vides pho­to and AI-based waste audits to track and ana­lyze waste streams in cities and increas­es diver­sion from land­fills. Founder: Josh Mastromatto

Of the select­ed pilots, 75 per­cent are local­ly based, 50 per­cent are minor­i­ty-led, and 50 per­cent are women-led. Pilots will be installed on Gov­er­nors Island over the com­ing months for peri­ods span­ning six to 18 months, with pub­lic Demo Days to be held through­out the year. 

Since its launch in 2023, the Trust’s Cli­mate Solu­tions Pilot­ing Pro­gram has sup­port­ed 14 dif­fer­ent projects with diverse rep­re­sen­ta­tion across busi­ness and non­prof­it sec­tors. Through this ini­tia­tive, the Trust makes the Island avail­able as a site for star­tups, small busi­ness­es, entre­pre­neurs, and non­prof­its to test ear­ly-stage cli­mate prod­ucts and ser­vices; col­lect data in a real-world envi­ron­ment; and direct­ly engage with fun­ders, investors, cus­tomers, and the Island’s near­ly one mil­lion annu­al vis­i­tors. In addi­tion to a themed annu­al chal­lenge, the pro­gram also includes a year-round gen­er­al appli­ca­tion seek­ing self-fund­ed pilot­ing pro­pos­als across all cli­mate sec­tors. For more infor­ma­tion and for a full list of cur­rent and past projects, click here.

“As a close part­ner of Gov­er­nors Island, we at The New York Cli­mate Exchange are excit­ed to see the ground­break­ing projects select­ed for this year’s Cli­mate Solu­tions Chal­lenge come to life,” said Shaina Horowitz, Direc­tor of Pro­gram­ming Inno­va­tion and Accel­er­a­tion at The Exchange. ​“Sup­port­ing cre­ative solu­tions and test­ing tech­nolo­gies that reduce urban waste and pro­mote a cir­cu­lar econ­o­my is crit­i­cal to our green eco­nom­ic trans­for­ma­tion, and Gov­er­nors Island can be a mod­el for New York City and beyond.”

“We con­grat­u­late the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island on the sec­ond annu­al cohort of pilot­ing projects and look for­ward to see­ing the pos­i­tive impact they will have on the com­mu­ni­ty. The busi­ness­es announced today are on the cut­ting edge of inno­v­a­tive approach­es to move towards a more cir­cu­lar econ­o­my, and we’re proud to sup­port their work through the Trust’s Cli­mate Solu­tions Chal­lenge,” said Sal­ly Fouts, Glob­al Leader, The Cli­mate Pledge at Amazon.

“We’re proud to sup­port The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island’s sec­ond annu­al Cli­mate Solu­tions Chal­lenge,” said Tim Caw­ley, the chair­man and CEO of Con Edison. ​“This ini­tia­tive aligns with our com­mit­ment to fos­ter­ing sus­tain­able prac­tices and advanc­ing solu­tions that reduce waste and build a clean­er future. Gov­er­nors Island serves as a cru­cial test­ing ground for the win­ners to show­case their trans­for­ma­tive solu­tions for New York’s homes, busi­ness­es, and neigh­bor­hoods. We look for­ward to the progress and insights these projects will yield and we invite all New York­ers to vis­it Gov­er­nors Island to learn and expe­ri­ence first­hand the inge­nu­ity that will shape a more sus­tain­able future.”

The Trust’s cli­mate pro­grams are made pos­si­ble with the gen­er­ous sup­port of Ama­zon, Con Edi­son, Deutsche Bank, Don­ald A. Pels Char­i­ta­ble Trust, LISC, and the New York Com­mu­ni­ty Trust.

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island is a core mem­ber of the Har­bor Cli­mate Col­lab­o­ra­tive (HCC), a joint ini­tia­tive with New York City Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion and Brook­lyn Navy Yard Devel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion to grow the city’s cli­mate ecosys­tem through pilot­ing pro­grams, leas­es, work­force devel­op­ment invest­ments, and reg­u­la­to­ry wayfind­ing. Today’s announce­ment under­scores the collaborative’s com­mit­ment to dou­ble the num­ber of pilot­ing projects across these three sites. 

Gov­er­nors Island is at the fore­front of research­ing and demon­strat­ing urban cli­mate solu­tions, offer­ing a unique water­front envi­ron­ment; an award-win­ning park engi­neered for cli­mate change; near­ly one mil­lion annu­al vis­i­tors; oppor­tu­ni­ties for research and pilot­ing; pub­lic art­works engag­ing with cli­mate issues; and a grow­ing com­mu­ni­ty of edu­ca­tion­al, non­prof­it, and com­mer­cial ten­ants focused on cli­mate — includ­ing Bil­lion Oys­ter Project, the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School, the soon-to-open But­ter­milk Labs, and more. In 2020, the Trust and the New York City Mayor’s Office announced a vision to cre­ate the Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions, a com­mu­ni­ty on Gov­er­nors Island to accel­er­ate cli­mate solu­tions for cities. In April 2023, The New York Cli­mate Exchange, led by Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty and a con­sor­tium of part­ners, was select­ed as the initiative’s anchor insti­tu­tion fol­low­ing a two-year com­pet­i­tive process. The Exchange will devel­op a $700-mil­lion cam­pus on the Island focused on advanc­ing cli­mate solu­tions and prepar­ing New York­ers for green jobs.

Jan 16 9:58 am

Today, Gov­er­nors Island Arts announced final­ists set to com­pete in the fourth annu­al Gov­er­nors Island Ice Sculp­ture Show, set to take place on Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 8, 2025, from 12 to 3p.m. This unique annu­al event pro­vides New York­ers and vis­i­tors from around the world with the sin­gu­lar oppor­tu­ni­ty to expe­ri­ence live ice carv­ing along­side the open space, and cul­tur­al, edu­ca­tion­al, and his­toric resources and attrac­tions that Gov­er­nors Island offers year-round. 

“We are so excit­ed for these artists to carve their cre­ations to life, and for Island vis­i­tors to wit­ness this event in Colonels Row for the fourth year in a row,” said Lau­ren Haynes, Head Cura­tor, Gov­er­nors Island Arts and Vice Pres­i­dent at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“With our col­lec­tion of pub­lic art­works and per­for­mances and pro­gram­ming, the Island is one of New York’s most inter­est­ing des­ti­na­tions for arts and cul­tur­al expe­ri­ence in all seasons.”

2025 Ice Sculp­ture Show Finalists:

• Ana Añu (@soopspoon) – ​“Bear Wit­ness,” Añu’s ecopo­et­ic sculp­ture that reflects the impor­tance of ani­mism in cli­mate sto­ry­telling, will call for audi­ence mem­bers to wit­ness the qui­et voic­es of the elemental. 

• Eli­jah Chavez (@lijahchavez.art) – ​“Lo que pasará, pasará” will depict an anatom­i­cal human heart while serv­ing as a com­mu­ni­ty alter inspired by the Mex­i­can cus­toms of the Day of the Dead. 

• Jake DeMar­ti­ni (@the­jakeweight) – A nod to 19^th-cen­tu­ry mar­itime his­to­ry, DeMartini’s ​“Moor­ing Bol­lard” hon­ors the tit­u­lar object’s min­i­mal design and engi­neer­ing along­side Gov­er­nors Island’s nau­ti­cal history. 

• Shawn Hill (@ublincd) – Select­ed in hon­or of Hill’s child­hood cre­ativ­i­ty, ​“Tuft­ed Tit­mouse” will depict this species of bird that is com­mon­ly seen on Gov­er­nors Island. 

• Aharon Levy – Levy’s ​“Gov­er­nors Island: New York Oasis” will explore the ten­sion between nature and urban envi­ron­ments, depict­ing a tree encased in ice and offer­ing a reflec­tion on imper­ma­nence, cli­mate change, and nature’s resilience. 

• Agusti­na Markez (@agusti­na­markezs­tu­dio) – Markez will explore the star as a sym­bol both in the con­text of nature and pop cul­ture through ​“Inter­twined Stars,” which inves­ti­gates iden­ti­ty and dis­place­ment in rela­tion to Amer­i­can culture. 

• Josef Pin­lac (@istill­heart­newyork) – Pin­lac will cel­e­brate pol­li­na­tors in ​“Ice ice bay-bee,” incor­po­rat­ing hon­ey­comb designs and hon­or­ing the Island’s bee population. 

• Sonya Sobies­ki (@crookedsquare) –Sobieski’s ​“Look­ing Out” will depict an over­sized pair of binoc­u­lars with birds com­mon­ly seen on Gov­er­nors Island etched into the lens­es, ask­ing the view­er, ​“can we look out for nature?”. 

• Kate­ri­na Sokolovskaya (@katerina.sokolovskaya.art) – In ​“Nature+,” Sokolovskaya will explore how peo­ple coex­ist with their sur­round­ings, show­ing how bod­ies influ­ence one anoth­er and inter­act with the environment. 

• Mai Sone (@mai__sone) – In hon­or of the Island’s acorn-like shape, Sone will sculpt ​“A squir­rel eat­ing Gov­er­nors Island.”

The ten final­ists were cho­sen fol­low­ing an open call seek­ing designs inspired by the theme ​“Gov­er­nors Island + nature.” Final­ists will be paired with a pro­fes­sion­al ice carv­er from Okamo­to Stu­dio dur­ing the free pub­lic event on Gov­er­nors Island on Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 8, 2025. Vis­i­tors are invit­ed to wit­ness this real-time ice carv­ing from 12 to 2 p.m. and enjoy an awards cer­e­mo­ny and ice sculp­ture instal­la­tion from 2 to 3p.m. — includ­ing the audi­ence-vot­ed ​“People’s Choice” award. The event will include ice carv­ing work­shops from Okamo­to Stu­dio, crafts from Red Hook Art Project, live music from dis­co-infused Afro­fu­tur­ist funk duo The Illus­tri­ous Blacks, and a spe­cial per­for­mance by NYC-based all-women, trans, and non-bina­ry drum­line Fogo Azul. Mak­i­na Café will be open in Colonels Row along­side addi­tion­al food trucks Nao Caribbean Fla­vors, The Orig­i­nal Soup­man, and Deploy Cof­fee, curat­ed by Four Wheel Feasts.

Dur­ing the win­ter months, Gov­er­nors Island is open to the pub­lic dai­ly from 7a.m. to 6p.m. Trust for Gov­er­nors Island-oper­at­ed fer­ries run dai­ly between the Bat­tery Mar­itime Build­ing at 10 South Street in Low­er Man­hat­tan and Sois­sons Land­ing on the Island. Round-trip fer­ry tick­ets cost $5 for adults. Gov­er­nors Island fer­ries are always free for chil­dren 12 and under, old­er adults ages 65 and up, res­i­dents of NYCHA, IDNYC hold­ers, cur­rent and for­mer mil­i­tary ser­vice mem­bers, and Gov­er­nors Island mem­bers. Fer­ries before 11a.m. on Sat­ur­days and Sun­days are free for all. There is no sur­charge for bicy­cles or strollers at any time. For sched­ules and tick­ets, vis­it www​.gov​is​land​.org/​ferry.

NYC Fer­ry, the city’s pub­lic fer­ry ser­vice, also serves Gov­er­nors Island dai­ly on the South Brook­lyn Route dur­ing the win­ter months, with stops in Low­er Man­hat­tan and along the Brook­lyn water­front. Sched­ules and more infor­ma­tion avail­able on their web­site at www.ferry.nyc.

Gov­er­nors Island’s award-win­ning park is open to the pub­lic every day, along with recre­ation activ­i­ties like bike rentals, Ham­mock Grove, The Hills, Pic­nic Point, and more. Gov­er­nors Island Arts pub­lic art works, includ­ing pieces by Duke Riley, Sam Van Aken, Rachel Whiteread, Mark Dion, Sheila Berg­er, Shantell Mar­tin, and Mark Hand­forth are also cur­rent­ly on view through­out the Island. This win­ter also marks the return of Win­ter Dog Days, where dogs are allowed on Gov­er­nors Island dai­ly from Decem­ber to April. Dogs must be leashed while on Gov­er­nors Island except for in the Win­ter Dog Park, locat­ed in Colonels Row and open through March. 

Dec 31 10:18 am

As we reflect on an incred­i­ble year and look ahead towards 2025, which will mark 20 years of pub­lic access, we are grate­ful for the com­mu­ni­ty of New York­ers that hop on the fer­ry each day to work, learn, eat, play, relax, research, and cre­ate on Gov­er­nors Island.

We are pleased to share our 2024 Year in Review, detail­ing a year of his­toric accom­plish­ments — includ­ing wel­com­ing the most vis­i­tors in the Island’s his­to­ry, expand­ing our role as a leader in accel­er­at­ing cli­mate solu­tions, and delight­ing vis­i­tors with sin­gu­lar cul­tur­al expe­ri­ences. Read on for high­lights, and click here to read the full report.

UNPAR­AL­LELED OPEN SPACE & RECREATION

With 120 acres of open space, includ­ing a 43-acre cli­mate-resilient park, 12 acres of ath­let­ic fields, 7 miles of car-free bike paths, and unique nat­ur­al areas, Gov­er­nors Island is a remark­able out­door resource in all sea­sons. This year, we cel­e­brat­ed the Year of Milk­weed and the pow­er of native plants, con­tin­ued to cre­ate a more resilient and thriv­ing open space, host­ed near­ly 95 events, and wel­comed near­ly 970,000 indi­vid­u­als from New York City and around the world. Read more →

TRANS­FOR­MA­TIVE ARTS & CULTURE

2024 marked a remark­able year of growth for Gov­er­nors Island Arts. We wel­comed Lau­ren Haynes as Head Cura­tor, Gov­er­nors Island Arts, and Vice Pres­i­dent, pre­sent­ed Jen­ny Kendler’s ground­break­ing Oth­er of Pearl with NRDC (Nat­ur­al Resources Defense Coun­cil), held a series of site-respon­sive per­for­mances high­light­ing acclaimed artists from around the world, and host­ed a cohort of 21 sea­son­al Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence in Nolan Park and Colonels Row. Read more →

ACCEL­ER­AT­ING CLI­MATE SOLUTIONS

Gov­er­nors Island is cre­at­ing a com­mu­ni­ty to accel­er­ate cli­mate solu­tions for cities and their pop­u­la­tions. This year, we show­cased inno­v­a­tive cli­mate tech through our pilot­ing pro­gram, restored the inte­ri­or of Build­ing 309 to serve as a com­mu­ni­ty con­ven­ing resource for cli­mate orga­ni­za­tions, and fos­tered a col­lab­o­ra­tive com­mu­ni­ty of ten­ants and part­ners work­ing in cli­mate. Read more →

FOS­TER­ING A THRIV­ING YEAR-ROUND COMMUNITY

Gov­er­nors Island is home to a grow­ing group of edu­ca­tion­al, non­prof­it, and com­mer­cial ten­ants. In 2024, many ten­ants cel­e­brat­ed mile­stones – includ­ing the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School, which broke ground on a his­toric expan­sion; Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil, which cel­e­brat­ed its 50^th anniver­sary year; and QC NY, which opened a brand-new 15,000-square-foot restau­rant in the new­ly restored Build­ing 111. Read more →

Nov 19 11:07 am

On Mon­day, Novem­ber 18, 2024, the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island (TGI), New York City Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion (NYCEDC), and Brook­lyn Navy Yard Devel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion (BNY­DC) held a Cli­mate Tech­nol­o­gy Show­case. Togeth­er, the three mis­sion-aligned pub­lic enti­ties with sites along the New York Har­bor, and con­nect­ed by NYC Fer­ry, are com­mit­ted to mak­ing New York City the glob­al cap­i­tal of cli­mate inno­va­tion through pilot­ing pro­grams, leas­es, work­force devel­op­ment invest­ments, and reg­u­la­to­ry wayfind­ing. The Har­bor Cli­mate Col­lab­o­ra­tive (HCC) is pledg­ing to dou­ble the num­ber of pilots con­duct­ed across the col­lab­o­ra­tive and struc­ture the pro­gram so that com­pa­nies ben­e­fit from both cam­pus-spe­cif­ic expe­ri­ences and col­lab­o­ra­tive-wide net­works, and fund­ing opportunities.

The NYC Cli­mate Tech­nol­o­gy Show­case high­lights the col­lec­tive impact of pilot­ing across the HCC while also pro­vid­ing addi­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties for par­tic­i­pat­ing com­pa­nies to grow and scale their busi­ness­es in New York City and increase expo­sure to prospec­tive cus­tomers, both gov­ern­men­tal and in the pri­vate sec­tor. Over 40 star­tups par­tic­i­pat­ed, and the event fea­tured demon­stra­tions of inno­v­a­tive cli­mate tech­nol­o­gy from six dif­fer­ent companies.

“New York City’s ded­i­ca­tion to grow­ing the green econ­o­my is stronger than ever and the role of cities as engines of inno­va­tion has nev­er been more impor­tant than in the urgent work to com­bat cli­mate change,” said First Deputy May­or Maria Tor­res-Springer. ​“The city’s com­mit­ment and cre­ativ­i­ty are exem­pli­fied by the Har­bor Cli­mate Col­lab­o­ra­tive, a part­ner­ship between the Brook­lyn Navy Yard Devel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion, Trust for Gov­er­nors Island, and the New York City Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion that deploys city-con­trolled cam­pus­es in the defin­ing fight of our time and helps build a vibrant cli­mate tech ecosys­tem in the city of New York.”

“Today’s show­case, high­light­ing more than 40 part­ners from across the Har­bor Cli­mate Col­lab­o­ra­tive, demon­strates what’s pos­si­ble when inno­va­tors are giv­en the space and resources need­ed to grow,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“Through the city’s ecosys­tem of pilot­ing sites, includ­ing Gov­er­nors Island, we’ve been able to accel­er­ate real-world test­ing, help­ing to pro­pel these com­pa­nies into their next stages of devel­op­ment and giv­ing New York­ers a front-row seat to the tools to fight cli­mate change.”

“The Har­bor Cli­mate Col­lab­o­ra­tive is a unique col­lab­o­ra­tion of three mas­sive for­mer mil­i­tary bases that are being trans­formed to fight cli­mate change, the glob­al threat of our time,” said NYCEDC Pres­i­dent & CEO Andrew Kim­ball. ​“Today’s show­case high­lights some of the amaz­ing entre­pre­neurs and tech­nol­o­gy already being pilot­ed at our three sites to unlock eco­nom­ic growth, cre­ate jobs, and pave the way for a green­er, more resilient future.”

“Since the launch of the Har­bor Cli­mate Col­lab­o­ra­tive ear­li­er this year, we’ve made tremen­dous progress towards our com­mit­ment of mak­ing New York City the epi­cen­ter of cli­mate tech R&D, and pro­duc­tion,” said Lind­say Greene, Pres­i­dent and CEO, Brook­lyn Navy Yard Devel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion. ​“From fur­ther­ing EV solu­tions in urban envi­ron­ments to test­ing marine-based car­bon cap­ture in one of the busiest har­bors in the world, we’ve suc­cess­ful­ly lever­aged our water­front assets to iden­ti­fy and advance the solu­tions we will need to com­bat cli­mate change. We look for­ward to dou­bling down on this crit­i­cal work next year.”

“The HCC will be an engine of eco­nom­ic oppor­tu­ni­ty for New York­ers that inte­grates edu­ca­tion, train­ing and career place­ment for 2100 New York­ers and will help posi­tion the city’s diverse tal­ent for green col­lar jobs that are crit­i­cal to grow­ing the green econ­o­my,” said Abby Jo Sigal, Exec­u­tive Direc­tor of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Tal­ent and Work­force Devel­op­ment. ​“The city’s green econ­o­my will cre­ate 400,000 jobs, includ­ing 12,000 appren­tice­ships by 2040, and the crit­i­cal role that the HCC will play in con­nect­ing local tal­ent to these oppor­tu­ni­ties will make our econ­o­my more inclu­sive, resilient, and green.”

“New York City is where the world’s bright­est minds come to test and exe­cute their best ideas on the biggest stage,” said New York City Chief Tech­nol­o­gy Offi­cer Matthew Fras­er. ​“Today’s event demon­strates this admin­is­tra­tion’s com­mit­ment to col­lab­o­rate across sec­tors, indus­tries, and bor­ders to build a glob­al hub for urban inno­va­tion. Our efforts to stream­line and accel­er­ate the pilot­ing process for emerg­ing tech­nolo­gies, through ini­tia­tives such as the NYC Smart City Test­bed Pro­gram, allow us to bet­ter eval­u­ate and poten­tial­ly scale solu­tions to our most press­ing chal­lenges — a win for tech com­pa­nies, city gov­ern­ment, and, most impor­tant­ly, 8.3 mil­lion New York­ers. I thank the mem­bers of the Har­bor Cli­mate Col­lab­o­ra­tive for their part­ner­ship in this impor­tant work.”

The Adams Admin­is­tra­tion has com­mit­ted to mak­ing New York City a glob­al hub of urban inno­va­tion – one of the 40 ini­tia­tives laid out in the ​“New” New York Action Plan. Fol­low­ing this com­mit­ment, the NYCEDC part­nered with the Cor­nell Tech’s Jacobs Urban Tech Hub to release Pilot:New York City as a road map to accel­er­ate urban inno­va­tion in New York City. The for­ma­tion of the HCC builds on May­or Adams’ efforts to devel­op a ​“Har­bor of the Future,” a mul­ti­fac­eted ini­tia­tive, and the ​“Green Econ­o­my Action Plan” — both announced by May­or Adams in his 2024 State of the City address to reimag­ine New York City’s water­front and fuel 21^st-cen­tu­ry growth and innovation.

As the core of New York City’s bur­geon­ing cli­mate inno­va­tion ecosys­tem, the HCC will invest over $725 mil­lion to advance New York’s green econ­o­my in NYCEDC’s Sun­set Park Dis­trict, the Brook­lyn Navy Yard, and on Gov­er­nors Island. The invest­ments sup­port cli­mate inno­va­tors through pilot­ing, ten­ant­i­ng, reg­u­la­to­ry coor­di­na­tion, work­force devel­op­ment, knowledge/​data shar­ing, fundrais­ing, and facil­i­tat­ing access to City agen­cies. The HCC, launched from the Adams’ Admin­is­tra­tion Green Econ­o­my Action Plan, unlocks six mil­lion square feet of space, will sup­port the cre­ation of 5,000 jobs, edu­cate and train 2,100 stu­dents, and gen­er­ate $55 bil­lion of eco­nom­ic impact.

Through­out the last year, the HCC has gath­ered crit­i­cal insights into the col­lec­tive impact of pilot­ing across our dif­fer­ent cam­pus­es. Between 2023 – 2024, 19 green econ­o­my founders and cli­mate tech com­pa­nies com­plet­ed or had an active pilot at one or more of the HCC pilot sites, includ­ing TGI’s Cli­mate Solu­tions Chal­lenge, NYCEDC’s Pilots at BAT pro­gram, and BNY­D­C’s Yard Labs.

Insights from the last year show that cli­mate tech­nolo­gies come from all over the world with com­pa­nies cut­ting across a range of green econ­o­my indus­tries, includ­ing resilience infra­struc­ture, build­ings, trans­porta­tion, and ener­gy. Com­pa­nies come to New York City to pilot at var­i­ous devel­op­ment stages but tend to be in the deploy­ment stage. Through pilot­ing their tech­nolo­gies along the East Riv­er water­front, the indus­tri­al envi­ron­ment of all three HCC sites, com­pa­nies have been able to:

• Col­lect data that helps com­pa­nies iter­ate and improve their product;
• Demon­strate com­mer­cial viability;
• Raise expo­sure of their cli­mate tech­nolo­gies to both the investors and the public;
• Gain entry into the New York City mar­ket and tai­lor ser­vices to New York;
• Secure indus­try cer­ti­fi­ca­tions, dur­ing the pilot phase or plan to get their cer­ti­fi­ca­tion upon com­plet­ing their pilot;
• Expand their foot­print in New York City, includ­ing mak­ing new con­nec­tions with city agen­cies, expand­ing to new office, lab or fac­to­ry space, and cre­at­ing new investor con­nec­tions; and
• Onboard­ed new interns, trainees, full or part time staff, cre­at­ing an aver­age of four new jobs per pilot project.

“This pilot serves as a proof-of-con­cept demon­stra­tion and has accel­er­at­ed our growth in NYC, LA, and Detroit. This project has helped us gen­er­ate rev­enue, col­lect real-world data, part­ner with more than 20 cus­tomers to help move their goods, and raise $100k in grant fund­ing to bring our 100% elec­tric freight mobil­i­ty solu­tions to oth­er cities across the US,” said Emis­sion­less Founder Max Yer­gan.

“Both pilots have accel­er­at­ed our prod­uct devel­op­ment to val­i­date how our sys­tem can be installed in build­ings and how it can be iter­at­ed to meet real-world con­straints. Fol­low­ing our pilot at Gov­er­nors Island, we received mul­ti­ple inquiries from cus­tomers inter­est­ed in com­mer­cial­ly test­ing our sys­tem at their facil­i­ties. These pilot oppor­tu­ni­ties like­ly brought down our go-to-mar­ket time­line from 24 months to at least six months,” said LÆRO Design Stu­dio Founder & CEO Noe­mi Flo­rea.

“Matcha’s pilot at the Brook­lyn Army Ter­mi­nal was an accel­er­ant to our entry into New York. The pilot helped Matcha demon­strate the reli­a­bil­i­ty of its EV charg­ing soft­ware, gain approval from NYSER­DA, and gen­er­ate press,” said Matcha Co-founder and CEO Chris Klue­sen­er.

“Beyond real sav­ings data cap­tured, the pilot helped us fig­ure out ways to improve our soft­ware in a real pro­duc­tion envi­ron­ment. For exam­ple, when the pilot site had a black­out event dur­ing a pow­er surge in the grid, 7 of 25 of our smart plugs could not recon­nect to Wi-Fi. We have since devel­oped a more robust IoT pro­to­col to over­come this sit­u­a­tion. With these issues iden­ti­fied and resolved at a small scale, we then gain the con­fi­dence and abil­i­ty to install at a larg­er scale (>50 out­lets per account). This is why the pilot is very impor­tant to us — to val­i­date our con­cept with real data and find loop­holes in our prod­uct to improve,” said Revert Tech­nolo­gies Co-founder and CEO Ryan Li.

“This pilot with DOT and NYCEDC has giv­en us the oppor­tu­ni­ty to refine our prod­uct and ser­vice offer­ing for NYC’s deliv­ery work­ers, ensur­ing that it is built with their spe­cif­ic needs in mind. DOT and NYCEDC cleared the way for us to be able to build safe charg­ing infra­struc­ture for NYC’s streets, and we look for­ward to con­tin­u­ing to work togeth­er,” said Swobbee US Man­ag­ing Direc­tor Stephan von Wolff.

“Our pilot at TGI has been instru­men­tal in our com­pa­ny’s suc­cess, gen­er­at­ing crit­i­cal data to iter­ate and improve our prod­uct inter­nal­ly, while show­ing exter­nal­ly that our prod­uct works and what its ben­e­fits are to secure new cus­tomers, investors, com­mu­ni­ty part­ners, and tal­ent. Our new pilot at BNY has allowed us to scale up our car­bon diox­ide removal and stor­age process sev­er­al orders of mag­ni­tude, with us now deliv­er­ing on the off­sets we’ve sold, and demon­strat­ing that our process is safe and effec­tive at a mean­ing­ful scale,” said Vycarb Founder & CEO Gar­rett Boudinot.

The May­or Adams Administration’s Har­bor of the Future ini­tia­tive includes emerg­ing inno­va­tion cen­ters at the Hunts Point Pro­duce Mar­ket, Gov­er­nors Island, the Brook­lyn Navy Yard, the Sci­ence Park and Research Cam­pus in Kips Bay, and the North Shore of Stat­en Island. Most recent­ly, May­or Adams announced that the city will invest $100 mil­lion to cre­ate the ​“Cli­mate Inno­va­tion Hub” at the Brook­lyn Army Ter­mi­nal as a part of the city’s Green Econ­o­my Action Plan that will posi­tion New York­ers to ben­e­fit from near­ly 400,000 ​“green-col­lar” jobs by 2040. This new hub will serve as a home for clean tech inno­va­tion, man­u­fac­tur­ing and sup­port green tech­nol­o­gy star­tups — includ­ing sup­port­ing the Pilots at BAT program.

About The Har­bor Cli­mate Col­lab­o­ra­tive
As out­lined in the Green Econ­o­my Action Plan, released by May­or Eric Adams in Feb­ru­ary of 2024, the plan’s vision is to estab­lish New York City as the glob­al cap­i­tal of cli­mate inno­va­tion through pilot­ing pro­grams, leas­es for office and lab space, work­force devel­op­ment invest­ments, and reg­u­la­to­ry wayfind­ing. At the heart of New York City’s bur­geon­ing cli­mate inno­va­tion ecosys­tem, The Har­bor Cli­mate Col­lab­o­ra­tive will invest over $725 mil­lion to advance New York’s green econ­o­my in NYCEDC’s Sun­set Park dis­trict, the Brook­lyn Navy Yard, and on Gov­er­nors Island. By unlock­ing six mil­lion square feet of space, the Har­bor Cli­mate Col­lab­o­ra­tive will sup­port the cre­ation of 5,000 per­ma­nent jobs, edu­cate and train 2,100 stu­dents, and gen­er­ate $55 bil­lion in eco­nom­ic impact.